A medical trade publisher has started putting (really horrendous) shrinkwrap licenses on its books. God, will it never end?
"It plainly says that by breaking the seal you agree to the terms of the license and if you don't agree you should return the book unopened. Is this what software licensing has led us to? This license says the book remains the property of Omnicare. Will they come up with a way to remotely disable the book if someone else reads it?"
The license was nontransferable and would "terminate immediately if the Licensee or his or her employer ceased to be an Omnicare customer." And although the Omnicare "Guidelines are intended only to provide guidance as to which pharmaceutical products Omnicare believes to be most effective" the "licensee" was nonetheless prohibited from disclosing any of the information in the book to third parties.
It gets worse: Omnicare sent out this book to prospective customers, people who didn't have a pre-existing relationship with them. That's right, this is spam with a shrinkwrap license!
(Thanks, Seth!)
