[Juliemiddle]

I’m done with my exams and I’d hate to throw away the books I bought (that I ended up not using b/c I used the software) & flashcards. Am I allowed to donate them to a library or something?

I know I can’t resell.

AUD: 84 - Oct. 2013
BEC: 83 - Feb. 2014
REG: 91 - May, 2014
FAR: 68, 96 - Oct. 2014...DONE

CPAExcel, Ninja Audio (all sections)

[Tripp11]

It probably depends on the User Agreement which accompanied the materials. For Becker:

Can I sell my Becker Materials to someone else?

Question

May I sell my Becker materials to someone else when I am finished using them?

Answer

No. Because you licensed the use of these materials from Becker, and did not purchase them, you may not legally sell, give, or otherwise transfer them to someone else. Your License Agreement with Becker specifically prohibits you from selling or otherwise distributing those materials.

AUD - 93
BEC - 80
REG - 86
FAR - 83

[M.O.D.]

I seriously doubt these restrictions against reselling are valid, because it is a published book. Do you have any precedent where Becker (or any CPA publishers) even tried to sue someone for reselling his material? Any success with a jury?

Second, all university libraries have the Becker books to check out, as well as Gleim, Wiley, Roger, etc, plus the test software on the school computers? How do they get around the fact that multiple people read the same book and use the same copy of the software, but you and a friend cannot.

Question

Should I give Becker more of my money and should my friend give Becker his money too?

Answer

Definitely, we like money, both yours and your friend's.

BA Mathematics, UC Berkeley
Certificates in CPA and EA preparation, College of San Mateo
CMA I 420, II 470
FAR 91, AUD Feb 2015 (Gleim self-study)

[juuustin]

M.O.D., your point is obviously valid, but to answer your question about how the University library “gets away with it” is they purchase specifically licensed material for use by all of their students. The same way that a University or business purchases Microsoft Office for all of its employees: they don't go out and buy individual copies of the software for each person. They buy enterprise copies that are specifically authorized for X amount of use. I imagine Becker has an entire branch of their sales team that is dedicated to selling these licenses to schools, firms, etc.

MD Candidate: 10/1/14

FAR - 87 (11/23/14)
REG - 87 (1/30/15)
BEC - 89 (4/19/15)
AUD - 98 (5/30/15)

Ethics - 100

Experience - In Progress!

[M.O.D.]

I know Gleim has an educational sales force with these types of arrangements (I get a discount by extension), but I doubt Becker has. And Becker has the most popular library copies. I've see them on two colleges, and the professor told me he simply asked Becker to send the books to the library. It is free publicity for them because it gets their name across at no cost. I would not be surprised if they send the books to the libraries on a continuous free subscription basis.

My professor told me of several poor students that never spent a dime on CPA materials, they just studied in the campus library and passed.

The license for software is specific to the computer, or for 10 computers or for 100, etc. Any employee can use the computer(s) I have never seen a license restricted to someone's name specifically. Ie, only Joe can use this software. If he leaves the company, you have to buy another copy for Bill.

BA Mathematics, UC Berkeley
Certificates in CPA and EA preparation, College of San Mateo
CMA I 420, II 470
FAR 91, AUD Feb 2015 (Gleim self-study)

[tomq04]

mmmmmm….money.

REG- (1) 76
FAR- (2) 64, (5)74, (7)83 (Over achiever!)
AUD- (3) 70, (4) 75
BEC- (6) 75

[stoleway]

Assuming you set up a garage sale and someone wants to buy that becker book, would you consult becker or A71 to determine if the book should be sold or not? The software has a single user policy and cannot be used by any other person aside from you. As for the book, I've seen quite a few on sale on eBay and amazon.

REG -63│ 84!!
BEC- 59│70│ 71 │78!
AUD- 75!
FAR- 87!

Mass-CPA

[mla1169]

Chances of getting caught are slim but it can and does happen https://www.justanswer.com/intellectual-property-law/8c30d-similar-e-mail-siia-pay.html

It's kind of like napster. We all know only the people downloading hundreds of thousands of songs got busted but we all stopped using it because it just wasn't worth any risk.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[NebCPA]

I'll start with the obvious disclaimer that we are not lawyers, so everything here is speculation at best.

During my masters, for a business law class, I gave a briefing on a Supreme Court ruling that came down a couple years ago, Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. For a quick summary: a student bought textbooks in a foreign country for less then they were being sold in the United States and proceeded to sell the texts in the United States making quite the profit. Wiley had a user agreement printed in the textbooks saying that the student could not sell the textbooks in the United States, so sued the student. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the student, 6-3, citing the the First-Sale doctrine. The first-sale doctrine gives a lawful purchaser the right to resale an item without the copyright owners' permission.

Your physical textbooks, if you own them, could very well fall under the First-Sale doctrine of the copy right laws. However, digital material seems to fall outside of the first-sale doctrine laws to a large capacity because even after “sale,” the seller can retain access to the item, something that doesn't happen with a physical sale. This means your Becker software could easily fall under a different category, something I am not greatly familiar with.

[funtiks]

go on craigslist and make a posting that you want to donate CPA review books

ask for for proof of NTS or something to make sure its not someone whos going to resell it on ebay

FAR - 76*, 73, 85
BEC - 69, 72, 78*, 80
AUD - 72, 71, 90
REG - 71, 74, 85

AFTER 3 YEARS I'M DONE!!!

[Author]

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