Software licensing and "Fair Use"

[Forrest]

There's another thread on this forum that started out regarding a complaint a user had with one Omni Group product licensing. It has somewhat derailed and become more about licensing in general. There's some good discussion there but I think the reason for the initial thread has already been served and I don't really want to keep bumping it to the top.

I'm not sure of the best place for this thread as it doesn't related directly to a specific Omni Group product.

From what I've seen, precedence has shown that the largely undefined "fair use" allows for software to be installed on two computers at the same time. However, it does not allow for two different users to use that product at the same time.

So hopefully we can all agree that it is not legit to use one license between two users at the same time.

My understanding is that, under fair use, the same user can use both products on two machines at the same time. This why, for example, apps from developers like Adobe allow that.

The next step of restriction is disallowing both apps to be in use at the same time. I haven't seen any developers implement this.

An additionally more restrictive step is to not allow both apps to be running at the same time. Some software products including the Omni Group's, MS Office... are this way. However, MS for example, knows that using the network to enforce this is both a security risk and possibly violates fair use. So they provide information on their site on how to disable it.

At the least, I would like to see the Omni Group's apps allow both to be running at the same time, but not be in use.

[Joel]

I'm not sure where the idea or notion that Adobe products can be run on two computers simultaneously came from, but it's never been the case in my experience, and according to Adobe's End User Agreement FAQ (http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_19592&sliceId=2) it's still not the case:

If you own, or are the primary user of, a single-user or volume license Adobe branded or Macromedia branded product that is installed on a computer at work, you can also install and use the software on one secondary computer of the same platform at home or on a portable computer. However, you may not run the software simultaneously on both the primary and secondary computers.

[Forrest]

Ah, interesting.

The Photoshop CS3 license agreement states:
2.4 Portable or Home Computer Use. The primary user of the Computer on which the Software is installed may install a second copy of the Software for his or her exclusive use on either a portable Computer or a Computer located at his or her home, provided the Software on the portable or home Computer is not used at the same time as the Software on the primary Computer.

(Section 2.5 is only about volume licensing.)

So I'm going by what the actual license agreement says. It says "use" whereas the FAQ says "run."

Also, I've always been able to run the apps on two machines at the same time. I currently have CS3 Design Premium installed.

[arglborps]

If both copies of the same app with the same license number run on machines being on the same network I doubt you can run them at the same time. I've never been able to accomplish that.

[Brian]

Forrest, just to make sure I understand what you're requesting here, you want the apps to be running on two machines, but only one machine can have it in a non-idle state.

Is that correct?

[Brian]

Aaaaaaaannd now I see how old this thread really is. Fooled by the thread necromancy, I am! :-)

[Edwards507]

Apologies to the Omni folks but I have just joined the forum. I have Graffle / Outliner / Plan / Focus and love them all. However, I do have an iMac AND a Powerbook and wondered if i can use the licence I have to run the apps on both machines. I have no need to run them simultaneously.
Regards, John

[Andrew]

Yes, the scenario you describe is considered legitimate usage by our licensing terms.