News Microsoft's army of lawyers was no match for a kid from Kent State.

The Helper

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David Zamos doesn't look as if he could single-handedly humiliate the world's largest software maker.

The well-built 21-year-old sips a jumbo cup of Starbucks coffee in the University of Akron's student union. He's looking dapper in pin-striped slacks, a navy pea coat, and a necklace of wooden beads that hugs his wide neck.

Thanks to massive doses of caffeine, Zamos (whose name rhymes with "famous") anxiously taps his Camper lace-ups against the table. A laptop sits to his right, a fat black binder to his left.

The only thing setting him apart from the other late-night crammers is that his notebook isn't filled with study guides. It's overflowing with documents from the federal lawsuit Microsoft brought against him on December 21.

For the past four months, Zamos has been fighting four high-powered attorneys. They claimed he violated trademark and copyright laws by selling two unopened pieces of software on eBay for $203.50.


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This is a very good article - you guys really should read this. Goes to show how with a little determination and hard work you can fight the big guys, and win. Life is totally like that - too bad more people don't realize it.
 
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No, I totally agree with you The Helper, life is a competition... if you want something work hard enough for it, people don't realize competition and people like that are every where.


BrokenX
 
lol and he got only 40$ meh if that was me be in would be using an alienware at this moment and living i a mansion :D but whoa lol he won
 
He's pretty good, but I don't understand his notion against Republicans. Both Political sides are stupid, so why would he just downcast the Republican view? Either way, he totally dealt a crotch blow to Microsoft :D:D
 
He won becuase Microsoft underestiamted him. Being such a big company, they can file the same claim becuase most give up. It's like a kingdom sueing a peasant but just writing up a 5 minute claim, and the peasant actually fighting back.

If you read the story, it sais Microsoft filed the SAME claim they filed for the case against another company, and that was there flaw.

Anyways, Microsoft still rules, they own rpetty much the world...
 
I disagree on a few points with the above poster. It said specifically near the end of the article that he won because Microsoft gave up after he requested a trial by jury. He won because Microsoft gave up, not because of the nature of their claim.

It sounds like he was really left with no alternative but to sell it, since it was Microsoft's fault they didn't process his return request in time and the school wouldn't accept it. Legally, he might not have been a qualified end user, since he never clicked the agreement, but that is their fault for putting it inside the software.

He didn't violate any trademark laws, obviously, because he was describing the product. He wasn't reselling their intellectual property outside jurisdiction. Morally, he was really left with no choice but to sell it. I personally see nothing wrong with someone selling the original copy of software they themselves purchased. If Microsoft didn't want the educational copies to be resold, they probably should have put that specifically in their licensing agreement.
 
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    420 threads in the Artificial Intelligence forum :)

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