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Stolen laptop recovered but damaged

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EnigmaPrime

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

hope this is the correct area to post.

I DJ using my laptop as my primary device to do this, a few weeks ago I finished off my set it was 1:30am on a Friday night, lights come on I take a quick trip to the rest room which is right next to the DJ booth, I'm in there 30 seconds max you know us guys.
When I come out I imediately notice my laptop missing, I make a b-line fir the front door & ask our door man did any one walk out with a laptop, telling him mine just went missing.
He looks down the street & takes off like a bat out of hell & disappears around the corner I follow, about two mins have gone by since I noticed it missing.

To both of our surrprise a police car had stopped a guy half way down the block for J walking but he did not have a laptop on him.
My bouncer went up to the cop & told him this guy just stole a laptop from the bar where we work at that the guy denied anything to do with any laptop.

The cop then looked at a parked truck where the guy ducked in behind bfire they stopped him & underneath the back wheel was my laptop where he ditched it, I made a statement & went back to work to cut a long story short.


Now the problem, this laptop is less than 7 months old & has not been working since the inccident, I've been using a friends for now.

The public defender rang me & asked how I wanted to proceed & mention if I would like to settle civily & if my computer was damaged they would fix it.
My problem with this is now i have a comp that is damaged goods & not what I shape I wanted a practicaly new pc to be in this early in my ownership of it.

Has anyone got any advise on how to proceed with getting my laptop replaced for the equal price I innitialy pay for it
 


cyjeff

Senior Member
You sue the bad person for the cost of the laptop. Ask the DA if he can include restitution in the criminal sentencing phase.
 

JETX

Senior Member
Has anyone got any advise on how to proceed with getting my laptop replaced for the equal price I innitialy pay for it
Simple answer.... you don't.
You are ONLY entitled to be made 'whole'... that is to be in the same place you were in immediately prior to the incident.
At that point in time, you had a used laptop computer. Your options (and recovery in court) would be for either repair of the laptop (to its at time condition) or a replacement laptop (7 months old, same specs/model).
You have not right or expectation to be made better than 'whole' (new or 'equal price to new').
 

Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
Simple answer.... you don't.
You are ONLY entitled to be made 'whole'... that is to be in the same place you were in immediately prior to the incident.
At that point in time, you had a used laptop computer. Your options (and recovery in court) would be for either repair of the laptop (to its at time condition) or a replacement laptop (7 months old, same specs/model).
You have not right or expectation to be made better than 'whole' (new or 'equal price to new').
Assuming your music library is properly licensed, making you whole should involve re-loading your library onto a laptop, as well as the DJ software you are using.

Note: Some professional DJ software licenses are not transferable, so would have been destroyed with the laptop.
 

JETX

Senior Member
Assuming your music library is properly licensed, making you whole should involve re-loading your library onto a laptop, as well as the DJ software you are using.
Correct (but not asked in this thread).

Note: Some professional DJ software licenses are not transferable, so would have been destroyed with the laptop.
Not relevant... as the OWNERSHIP of the 'software license' (if exists) is NOT being transferred.
 

Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
Correct (but not asked in this thread).


Not relevant... as the OWNERSHIP of the 'software license' (if exists) is NOT being transferred.
Some software is licensed for exactly one computer, and cannot be transferred to another computer. The Microsoft Windows Operating System is the most common example of this non-transferable license.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Some software is licensed for exactly one computer, and cannot be transferred to another computer. The Microsoft Windows Operating System is the most common example of this non-transferable license.
You actually made me research this stevef. You are kind of right, kind of wrong but mostly wrong.

an OEM license is not transferable from computer to computer but that is because the license is attached specifically to the computer. The license can be transferred from one owner to another but due to the fact the license is attached to the computer, it must remain with that one computer.

Now, with a full retail copy of Windows, the license and ownership of materials is transferable from not only computer to computer but owner to owner. As with any copyrighted material, the seller/ transferor must relinquish all associated literature and copies (including the one on his/her computer) to the buyer/transferee.
 
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Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
You actually made me research this stevef. You are kind of right, kind of wrong but mostly wrong.

an OEM license is not transferable from computer to computer but that is because the license is attached specifically to the computer. The license can be transferred from one owner to another but due to the fact the license is attached to the computer, it must remain with that one computer.

Now, with a full retail copy of Windows, the license and ownership of materials is transferable from not only computer to computer but owner to owner. As with any copyrighted material, the seller/ transferor must relinquish all associated literature and copies (including the one on his/her computer) to the buyer/transferee.
I never said ALL Professional DJ software is non-transferable, so I don't know how that statement can be MOSTLY wrong. In fact, some licenses only allow for ONE installation. If you reformat your hard drive, you must purchase another license. The one that comes to mind is a CNC lathe control program, but the name escapes me at the moment.

Software licenses can be written any way the vendor chooses.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
I never said ALL Professional DJ software is non-transferable, so I don't know how that statement can be MOSTLY wrong. In fact, some licenses only allow for ONE installation. If you reformat your hard drive, you must purchase another license. The one that comes to mind is a CNC lathe control program, but the name escapes me at the moment.

Software licenses can be written any way the vendor chooses.
Your claim concerning Windows was MOSTLY wrong.

and your claim about reformatting the hard drive is also most likely wrong. You do not lose the license merely because you reformat. The one installation is in reference to one COMPUTER, not a one time installation generally and most likely. Of course, the license holder can place whatever restrictions they want but such a limitation would be foolish and a party that purchased software with such limitations would be foolish to pay for software with such limitations.

If you have proof to support your position, I would be more than willing to read it. I can support my information concerning Window OS. It was easily obtained directly from Microsoft.
 

JETX

Senior Member
I never said ALL Professional DJ software is non-transferable, so I don't know how that statement can be MOSTLY wrong. In fact, some licenses only allow for ONE installation. If you reformat your hard drive, you must purchase another license. The one that comes to mind is a CNC lathe control program, but the name escapes me at the moment.

Software licenses can be written any way the vendor chooses.
Please provide ONE link to ANY DJ software that cannot be transferred to another machine by the authorized owner.
Of course, you can't... since your post is just a very generic, overly broad OPINION.... not based on any law.
 
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tranquility

Senior Member
Rather than a challenge, how about stating a fact? ARE there such licensing schemes? Do ALL licensing schemes go with the the purported owner or are there some which go with the hard drive or CPU?

It is clear there is an increased demand by copyright holders to *PRECISELY* constrain the use of their IP. If owner regemin, a group of friends can "sell" the license to whoever is working that night. The sale comes back next week. That does not make enough money (according to them) to the copyright holder. Forcing the whole CPU to change hands slows that down and increases sales.
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
I think that was JETX's point. If stevef has support for his claim, let him present it.

ROCKIT PRO DJ SOFTWARE - Purchase Rockit Pro DJ - Computer DJ & Audio Software by SoftJock

one computer at a time. I don't see where a reload of the OS would alter the ownership. In fact, they specifically allow it to be loaded on a second computer:

Note: You are able to keep Rockit Pro DJ installed on a backup or practice computer for your use only, provided you (or someone else) are not using both at the same time.
VIRTUAL DJ SOFTWARE - Disclaimer

You are granted one license to:
- install and use the Software on one computer.
- install and use the Software on a second computer, if this computer is normally used by the same person and the Software will not be used on both computers at the same time.
- make back-up copies of the Software for archival purposes.
here either.


So stevef, your turn.
 

cosine

Senior Member
Simple answer.... you don't.
You are ONLY entitled to be made 'whole'... that is to be in the same place you were in immediately prior to the incident.
At that point in time, you had a used laptop computer. Your options (and recovery in court) would be for either repair of the laptop (to its at time condition) or a replacement laptop (7 months old, same specs/model).
You have not right or expectation to be made better than 'whole' (new or 'equal price to new').
Keep in mind that a damaged and repaired laptop of 7 months age is NOT the equivalent of an undamaged laptop of 7 months age ... when the damage is hardware. A correct equivalent would be a replacement that had been used for 7 months and never abused or misused.

I do know of what I speak on this from extensive professional experience that includes repairing computers as well as building custom computers from scratch. Some kinds of damage simply cannot be repaired properly at a cost less than that of a brand new computer. Laptops are especially difficult due to the right integration. Also, computers (both desktops and laptops) used by a heavy smoker are considered "very abused" and it is next to impossible to make them be equivalent to one of the same age used just as much by a non-smoker.

In certain ways, used computers are much like used cars ... you really have no idea what you're getting until something actually breaks, or it manages to run for years with no trouble.

Whether the OP actually can be "made whole" by repairs depends on the specific damage. If the damage is limited to the hard drive, a replacement, with re-install of all software and data, should make things whole. If the damage is in the display LCD or hinge, a whole new computer would be much less costly and certainly simpler if the special software and data relicensing is not an issue.

As for the software licensing issue that this thread continued on with, you are all right and wrong on many aspects. MOST software is legally transferable from one CPU to another. However, a LOT of software makes this very difficult to do. For example, a fresh install often requires activation by the software maker. I used to work in both development and tech support for a major tax software maker (not a consumer product ... it was a product used by accountants and tax firms, costing from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars for the full suite) and handled hundreds of phone calls for activations. If the account already had an activation on record, there were LOTS of hoops to jump through to reactivate on another computer. If the old computer was usable, it was possible to do a DE-activation on it, and that would produce a code we could use to RE-activate on the new computer. The activation was not transferable by simply moving the hard drive from the old computer to the new computer. If the old computer was unusable, we required signed and notarized affidavits and that went through another department I was not involved in.

My point is, if the software does work on the new computer, and it might, you're lucky. If it requires reactivation and the company is willing to do it on the old account, you're really lucky. Otherwise it can get costly. Many companies actually do try to get people to buy a new copy even if they are not legally obligated to do so.

I have no specific experience with DJ software, so I cannot say how much that differs from other software markets. I'm just saying it is very possible for this to be "administratively difficult".
 
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