Ok to sell Lightroom separately from an Intuos/Lightroom bundle?

Question

Hello, and happy new year
I bought a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet under the product name “Wacom Intuos4 A5 Medium with Adobe Lightroom3”. I already had Lightroom, and I asked the sales person if the Lightroom can be sold to a third person or if the license to use LR is coupled with the ownership of the Intuos. The sales rep told me that the Lightroom license could be sold separately. I wouldn’t have bought the Intuos without the possibility to sell the LR license.
After I opened the box, I found the LR installation disk with serial number. The disk was marked “for bundles only”.
Now I hope that someone from Adobe or Wacom can confirm that it is technically and legally (contractually) ok to sell the Lightroom 3 license separately from the Intuos. If splitting the bundle is not permitted contractually, do you think the restriction is enforceable, in view of the fact that the restriction (not to sell separately) can be seen only by breaking the package seals?
I may be overly sensitive over the contractual issues but I make my living by acquiring and protecting other people’s intellectual rights.
Best regards
Antero

Answer 1

Hello
There are two ways to look at the problem. From a theoretical viewpoint, I was clearly misled into buying the Intuos/LR bundle. As the product description says “Wacom Intuos4 *with* Adobe Lightroom 3, I had every reason to believe that I will get Adobe Lightroom 3. If I buy a normal LR3, as long as it is unopened and the license is not registered to me, I can give or sell the license. Regardless of what software vendors say about transferring software licenses, consumer authorities in Europe have determined that off-the-shelf software is comparable to “products” in the sense that licenses are transferable if the product has not been used. But instead of a normal version of Lightroom 3, what I got was a restricted one. If Wacom or Adobe want to enforce the restriction that the bundle should not be split, that restriction should have been visible prior to making the purchase. That’s the theoretical viewpoint.
From a pragmatic viewpoint, I will sell the entire bundle to a relative who will then rent the Intuos4 tablet to me, at least nominally. That way we are not splitting the ownership of the bundle. It’s just that the software and hardware will reside at different locations.
Thanks for everyone who contributed.
Antero