Legality question about buying/selling COA stickers

[EQTitan]

I was wondering what legality issues there are with buying/selling authentic Certificate Of Authenticity without buying/selling the accompanying disc.

I ask because there is a local computer shop that sells just the stickers for a fair price but I'm worried about some how getting in trouble for not also having the disc that should have come with the COA sticker. I should also point out that I do have a legit disc from a previous purchase.

Thanks

 

[stash]

Never buy standalone COAs from anyone, they are either counterfeit or sold illegally.

http://www.microsoft.com/resou...?pg=coa&displaylang=en

 

[EQTitan]

They say to only buy from reputable resellers, this guy has ben in business for about as long as I have been building PC's {10+ years}

 

[stash]

Good for him COAs can not be sold separately.

 

[Genx87]

Well reading that link it doesnt appear illegal to sell the stand alone stickers provided they are legal(duh). Anyways HP will ship a box with a COA on it without the discs. So I am fairly confident it can be done. Just make sure you are buying from somebody who is legit.

 

[stash]

If you read the more information links for each of the COA types, they all say COAs cannot be purchased separately.

COAs are worthless by themselves. They are not a license.

There is no legitimate way to purchase COAs by themselves. Full stop.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: stash
Good for him COAs can not be sold separately.

As stash notes, Microsoft says, "Don't buy standalone COA stickers".

One thing you'll find in common among vendors selling improper software is the claim, "We are totally legitimate and support anti-piracy efforts."

 

[IEC]

There's a lot of ignorance about the policy - a sticker by itself doesn't make you legal...

 

[Chiropteran]

Microsoft's wording is actually kind of funny.

If you receive offers for COAs as stand-alone items, be aware that these offers are highly suspect and can put you at risk. To fall victim to stand-alone COAs offers means that you may have wasted valuable money and you will not have a legal license to run the software.

Microsoft doesn't come right out and say it's always illegal. I believe this is because Microsoft wants it to be illegal, but the license agreements in question have never been tested in court and it's questionable if they would stand up or not.

 

[Chiropteran]

Actually I think I found the loophole. The COA sticker isn't actually "married" to the hardware until the end user agrees to the license agreement. If you buy a computer that includes an OEM copy of windows, but you never actually run windows, for example you boot from a Linux CD and reformat and install Linux without ever touching windows, you never agreed to any license agreement and you are free to sell your OEM copy of windows.

I could be wrong, but it sounds right.