Just a quick question?
Say you brought some software with a lifetime licence, how long would you expect that this software will work for you?
This question has been puzzling us since a client of ours brought it to our attention yesterday. They purchased some software over the net, subject to the laws of the "State of New York, USA" and paid extra for a lifetime warranty. After six (6) years it has stopped working.
When they argued with their supplier that they had a lifetime warranty and so it should still work, they were informed yes they purchased the item with a lifetime warranty and that the "End-User License Agreement" clearly stated
so apparently their lifetime warranty on this software is six years.
I have verified that this was the "End-User License Agreement" when they did buy it.
I decided to do some investigating on their behalf and discovered that the term *lifetime* in "lifetime warranty" has several different meaning
It may mean
a) Forever
b) No matter how long the original purchaser owns the product.
c) For how long that product can be reasonably expected to perform based on the way the buyer uses it.
d) The lifetime of the manufacturer
e) Three years
f) But this was the kicker; however, the seller defines it as long as he conspicuously discloses what ‘lifetime’ means.
In some states in the US, I saw that could be something like as long as we sell that version of the software. For example, if they sell version (2) and now version (3) comes out, so they drop version (2), well version (2) lifetime is over and so is your warranty.
Note in Australia, under ACCC guidelines action can only be taken ten years maximum after purchase, which I suppose puts its own limit on the goods warranty.
I suppose like always remember the saying "Let the buyer beware."
