Copyright Issues

Software, DVDs, CDs and other media

Software and other media are covered by copyright law - here's the position if you're unsure.

Software being passed on breaches copyright if:

• it isn't the original software
• it's still being used by a previous owner (as a Freegle volunteer, you'd generally have no way of knowing this)
• it's been used to claim an upgrade
• it doesn't follow the terms of its End User Licence Agreement (EULA) - if the EULA says nothing about transfers or exchanges, treat the software like any other copyrighted work (such as a book, CD or video)

To stay within copyright law, music, videos, books and other copyrighted works being passed on should be:

• originals, not copies
• no longer used by the previous owner

For more information, see the IPO or FACT.

There's more on this in the Admins area, here, and a sample rejection message here.

If someone offering a computer is worried about the security of their data, they can use CCleaner to overwrite free space - this avoids having to reinstall anything afterwards.

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