Kill Bill Vol. III: David vs. Goliath

I found this article through Digg.com. It's a great David and Goliath story about a college kid (David Zamos) being sued by Microsoft for selling unopened, legal copies of Windows XP and Office XP on eBay. Apparently he bought the software at his school's bookstore under the academic discount program. For one reason or another, he decided to return the software (unopened), but he was refused a refund (both by the school and by Microsoft). So, he sold it on eBay and made a small profit in the process.

According to Microsoft's End User License Agreement, reselling academic versions of its software is prohibited unless you are authorized by Microsoft to do so. The problem is, you can't agree to the EULA without installing the software, which first requires you to OPEN THE PACKAGE. Since he didn't open the package, Microsoft couldn't claim that he agreed to the EULA. And thus, David did his homework, learned how to turn the legal tables on Microsoft, and successfully defended himself in court against one of the largest companies in the world. Check it out...

http://clevescene.com/issues/2005-03-30/news/feature_print.html

- Matt