I cancelled my auction of my Macintosh copy of Adobe Illustrator 8.0 and Photoshop 5.5 because I suddenly wondered whether it was within my rights to sell a copy of an OEM “bundled” version of Adobe’s software… and because their anti-piracy stance sounded quite scary.

Software piracy can subject an individual to arrest and criminal prosecution, with fines up to US$250,000 and prison terms of up to five years. In civil cases, Adobe can obtain the higher of its lost profits plus the infringer’s profits, or statutory damages of up to US$150,000 per product. Adobe may recover its attorneys’ fees in either case.

Even if these words are paper tigers, the consequences are not worth it. I’m still a little freaked out about my brush with patent infringement.

I guess I need to contact Adobe to ask them a few questions, and to see if I could legally purchase a Microsoft Windows “upgrade” version of these products for my home use based on the fact that I own this useless Macintosh version.