How can a would-be buyer avoid bootleg copies of MATLAB professional at ebay?
Martin
wuithin 3 months.
Things are quite clear when CD-Rs are offered.
The following two examples are less clear.
Are this market prices?
1. ebay offer "Matlab 6.5 Full Not Student Version 3663286962"
and a previous offer (3661750758) for a price of 65US$ by the same
seller. The price is appears extremely low and there are 4 copies on
offer.
2. ebay nr. 3662607833 (MATLAB professional v. 6) .
The seller did sell a similar pair opf CDs before (ebay 3653722208)
for a very low price (£37,10) with positive feedback about two weeks
ago. This offer mentions that the license is nonregisterable.
Does anybody on this list have experience with similar offers that
does not fit into one ebay comment line.
Thanks!
Scott Seidman
news:e7a41497.04022...@posting.google.com:
> I ask here as the MATHWORKS did not respond to a similar inquiery
> wuithin 3 months.
>
To answer the question on your subject line, don't buy Matlab on eBay, buy
it from a real software distributor.
Scott
Ken Davis
then verify with TMW that it is indeed owned by the seller and transferable.
There are legitimate reasons to sell Matlab licenses, although, on the face
of it, it doesn't sound like this seller has one.
Ken
"Martin" <lang...@web.de> wrote in message
news:e7a41497.04022...@posting.google.com...
Steven Lord
> I ask here as the MATHWORKS did not respond to a similar inquiery
> wuithin 3 months.
To what email address did you send your message, Martin? You should have
received a reply fairly quickly.
> Things are quite clear when CD-Rs are offered.
> The following two examples are less clear.
> Are this market prices?
>
> 1. ebay offer "Matlab 6.5 Full Not Student Version 3663286962"
> and a previous offer (3661750758) for a price of 65US$ by the same
> seller. The price is appears extremely low and there are 4 copies on
> offer.
The description sounds like the Student Version is indeed what's being
offered.
> 2. ebay nr. 3662607833 (MATLAB professional v. 6) .
> The seller did sell a similar pair opf CDs before (ebay 3653722208)
> for a very low price (£37,10) with positive feedback about two weeks
> ago. This offer mentions that the license is nonregisterable.
>
> Does anybody on this list have experience with similar offers that
> does not fit into one ebay comment line.
When in doubt, send in...@mathworks.com the eBay item IDs and ask them to
forward to the legal team for investigation. I've done so for the eBay IDs
you listed here.
I would recommend that rather than going through eBay that you contact us
directly. Your email address seems to indicate that you're in Germany -- if
so, you can contact our German office's sales team using the contact info
here:
http://www.mathworks.de/company/contact.shtml
If you're not in Germany, choose the appropriate country from the dropdown
menu on this page for the appropriate contact info:
http://www.mathworks.com/company/contact.shtml
If you see some eBay IDs that look fishy, you can mention them to the sales
representative you speak to instead of or in addition to sending them to
info and they should be able to get them to the legal team.
--
Steve Lord
sl...@mathworks.com
Martin
However, with all due respect, I am in the market to buy and not as a
prosecutor, so some more practical advice for immediate decision
taking would be helpful.
Ebay offers of MATLAB installation CDs appear to be shortlived and for
several possible reasons.
The offer of the four copies in stock from the US mentioned above was
withdrawn a short time after my post - for obscure if possibly obvious
reasons, but for the other offer from the UK (expired last night) I
did not bid for fear of ending up with a bootleg.
Questions:
1. What constitutes a "legitimate" installation CD - this cannot lie
in the eye on the beholder can it?
2. Are there pictures of all legitimate installation CDs posted
somewhere for comparison?
3. What is the status of any nonregisterable installation CD?
4. Do there exist any "legitimate" copies of MATLAB installation CDs
(e.g. R12), with the installation key printed on the CD that cannot be
registered?
5. What practical consequences does a buyer of a bootleg copy have to
face - apart from lack of individual support (not to mention his
karma)?
Thanks!
Tristram Scott
>
[snip]
> Questions:
> 1. What constitutes a "legitimate" installation CD - this cannot lie
> in the eye on the beholder can it?
Bootleg MATLAB installation CDs are very uncommon. If you get the
media, it will likely be the right thing. The part which makes it
legitimate is the license.
If all you want is a CD, ring up TMW and ask for a demo CD. If your
enquiry is genuine, they will be happy to ship you a CD and an
evaluation license.
> 2. Are there pictures of all legitimate installation CDs posted
> somewhere for comparison?
Not that I know of.
> 3. What is the status of any nonregisterable installation CD?
If you have current maintenance on the product, TMW will usually allow
you to transfer the license to a third party. If it is nonregisterable,
then likely the maintenance has expired. You could pay TMW the due
maintenance for the previuous years.
If the product is no longer under maintenance, then the license is not
transferable.
> 4. Do there exist any "legitimate" copies of MATLAB installation CDs
> (e.g. R12), with the installation key printed on the CD that cannot be
> registered?
The installation keys were not normally printed on the CD.
> 5. What practical consequences does a buyer of a bootleg copy have to
> face - apart from lack of individual support (not to mention his
> karma)?
Ask a lawyer that one. I would guess that you could buy the CD with no
consequences. But if you install it without a valid license ...
In short, the only valid way to obtain a second hand license for MATLAB
is to have the original owner ask TMW to transfer the license to your
name. TMW will normally oblige as long as the license is currently
under maintenace.
If you want a cheap legitmate license, become a student, and buy a
student copy. Personally, given the amount of work I can do with a
MATLAB license, I think the full price is quite reasonable.
--
Dr Tristram J. Scott
Energy Consultant
Martin
> Martin wrote:
> [snip]
> > Questions:
> > 1. What constitutes a "legitimate" installation CD - this cannot lie
> > in the eye on the beholder can it?
> Bootleg MATLAB installation CDs are very uncommon. If you get the
> media, it will likely be the right thing. The part which makes it
> legitimate is the license.
I have seen a bona fide installation CD which displays a license
agreement and gives a license number of 0 in the end - which cannot be
registered - little surprise. The disk appeared to me as new, so the
issue of license transfer did not occur. Let me repeat the following
question:
> > 3. What is the status of any nonregisterable installation CD?
>
> If you have current maintenance on the product, TMW will usually allow
> you to transfer the license to a third party. If it is nonregisterable,
> then likely the maintenance has expired. You could pay TMW the due
> maintenance for the previuous years.
> If the product is no longer under maintenance, then the license is not
> transferable.
This does not give much clarity in the above mentioned case.
> > 4. Do there exist any "legitimate" copies of MATLAB installation CDs
> > (e.g. R12), with the installation key printed on the CD that cannot be
> > registered?
>
> The installation keys were not normally printed on the CD.
Does this mean that CDs with installation key printed on them are
bootleg?
> > 5. What practical consequences does a buyer of a bootleg copy have to
> > face - apart from lack of individual support (not to mention his
> > karma)?
> If you want a cheap legitmate license, become a student, and buy a
> student copy. Personally, given the amount of work I can do with a
> MATLAB license, I think the full price is quite reasonable.
Any price is made by a market.
Here is the next ebay offer: 3664347162
Should I bid?
Ken Davis
Stop asking us and ask TMW. It's up to them. - Ken
Steven Lord
> Tristram Scott <tristra...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:404300F6...@ntlworld.com...
*snip*
>> If you want a cheap legitmate license, become a student, and buy a
>> student copy. Personally, given the amount of work I can do with a
>> MATLAB license, I think the full price is quite reasonable.
> Any price is made by a market.
>
> Here is the next ebay offer: 3664347162
> Should I bid?
I've forwarded that eBay ID to our legal team for investigation. I have
also requested that either they or a member of our sales staff contact you
directly to discuss and answer your questions. I don't want to give an
answer that may turn out to be incorrect, and I'm not as familiar with the
whole licensing process as they will be. I try to confine myself to
technical questions for the most part :)
--
Steve Lord
sl...@mathworks.com