On Spore DRM & Re-Sales

Ars Technica has a discussion of one of the implications of how activations
of the SecuROM copy protection in Spore are handled, as those who purchase
used copies of the game may find it difficult or impossible to activate the game
without details on the user account of the previous owner. They quote the game's
EULA: "You may not be able to transfer the Software if you have already
exhausted the terms of this License by authenticating the Software on the
allowed number machine [sic]. Subsequent recipients of this License may not be
able to authenticate the Software on additional machines." They analyze the
implications of this, enlisting the Electronic
Frontier Foundation to see whether this limitation was a legal issue,
discussing how similar "end run" moves have been treated in the courts, saying
this is still up in the air: "The law in this area is a bit of a jump ball right
now."


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