Downloading a torrent but you purchased the software

[Coldfuzion]

I don't think we should have these discussions as to not incriminate the forums

We are not incriminating the forums, or anyone on them. We are actually saving people right now. This is a very important issue, and I think it's important to have discussions on it, as long as its not telling people to pirate, or where to pirate from I don't see the problem in it.

[photojojo]

We can discuss it as long as the conversation stays on the side of you shouldn't do it and not this is how you do it.

[smiTTTen]

I work for a software developer. We treat the software as two entities; the media and the license. These days we provide download links to our media rather than shipping out DVDs. In addition the user get license keys, serial numbers that activate an entitlement to the product. We have never tracked nor cared about where someone gets the media from, but we do care out the validity of the license.

Our activation system is pretty old and is getting updated on the next release but even now I can track a serial number to a specific IP address, see how many time someone activated it and how many times they tried to activate it after it has been disabled (we limit the number of activations).

Our software is not consumer software but most of the same principals apply. Should we discover someone is using our software illegally we will inform them that we are aware of the situation and require that they perform certain steps to deactivate the license. They are then also required to submit proof of deactivation which we also validate. If we don't get a response pretty swiftly our legal team sends a cease and desist and we would follow up with further ways to legally remedy the situation if the person or company didn't comply. Our software sells from $20,000-$500,000 so it is different from downloading a torrent (although I have seen our stuff appear on torrents, ebay and craigslist).

If you were to be discovered using the software (I am not sure how often NI's Service Center phones home or what information it passes back to their activation server) NI would certainly have the right to remedy the situation legally.

If you are not getting things working through Service Center, pick up the phone and call them. They should be able to sort you out. Most software companies don't want to waste time and money chasing pirates and should be willing to help out in a situation like this.

[Reveren Kamakaze]

All is sorted now after a week of waiting. Interesting though many of the things mentioned here though, 1 last question and this is an answer probably found in the EULA that no one ever reads, With a program like Ableton, many producers will have it and want it installed on their main desktop studio pc and maybe would like to have it on their laptops for live use, can one licence be used for this?

[Xonetacular]

All is sorted now after a week of waiting. Interesting though many of the things mentioned here though, 1 last question and this is an answer probably found in the EULA that no one ever reads, With a program like Ableton, many producers will have it and want it installed on their main desktop studio pc and maybe would like to have it on their laptops for live use, can one licence be used for this?

I know most NI stuff you can install it on two machines.

[lethal_pizzle]

Full license = 2 machines
Educational license = 1 machine

[Xonetacular]

Full license = 2 machines
Educational license = 1 machine

I thought the only difference between full and edu was you can't sell it. Pretty sure you can still install it on two machines.

[keeb]

I thought the only difference between full and edu was you can't sell it. Pretty sure you can still install it on two machines.

This and you can't use the EDU version for commercial purposes (paid performances, track releases, etc.).

[DJSigma]

Is it technically illegal? yes.

Is it wrong? No. It's like if I buy a vinyl record there's no point in ripping it if I can just download a copy.

That's just my opinion and there are some people on here who are very serious about antiquated IP laws and protecting the rights of big copyright holders.

I agree with you totally, but with torrents you're distributing pieces of the file you're downloading to all of the other machines in your swarm as you're downloading it, and this continues if you seed. That's not just technically illegal in many countries - it is illegal, as you're helping to distribute whatever it is you're downloading to pirates. The risk of getting caught is very small, but it's still a risk that people should be made aware of.