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[yungsc1005]

removed

[Yak]

Be prepared for the PLI representative to warn you to remove the CD/DVD/Patware disk from your offer of sale. 

[MarkDighton]

Sorry...no sooner said than done.
Please be advised that the PLI Patent Bar Review Course you are offering for sale is offered in violation of PLI’s intellectual property rights. The computer disks included in the course are transferred only under a license which prevents their resale or transfer under any circumstances. Please pull at least the disks from your sale immediately or PLI may pursue its rights under the law.

Sincerely,
Mark Dighton, Esq.
Admin. Director, PLI’s Patent Bar Review
mdighton@pli.edu

[klaviernista]

Ah, those pesky EULA's.   

[tkfx2000]

Attorney Dighton is wrong, he fails to mention the "first sale doctrine".

Whether this applies to software is a point of contention, the courts are inconsistent. However the books, cd's and videos of the PLI course can be resold. Provided the copies placed for sale are legal copies. Don't be bullied.

[passpli]

Hello, I have this entire PLI Course for sale. I purchased this course in 2009 everything is like brand new with no markings in books and CDs and DVDs play great! please see description below.

  Course includes the following:

   1. "Read Me First" letter
   2. Course materials in binder
   3. ClaimsLight book
   4. Pre-Course Materials book
   5. Prime Questions book
   6. 8 DVDs
   7. 36 Audio CDs
   8. Patware Software 9.0 CD

Make me an offer. Email me at  pliexpressnow@gmail.com

Thanks
Robert

[MarkDighton]

Robert:
You're already on notice (thanks to my prior post) that this sale is in violation of PLI's Intellectual Property rights. I thnk it would reflect very badly on your character to serve as the Patent Bar if you were to undertake this sale in knowing violation of our intellectual property rights. I'd ask you to at least pull the disks from the sale, and I'd ask you to pull the entire course unless and until you can prove that you bought the course from us (or bought from someone who bought from us)...there are entirely too many counterfeit (copied) courses for sale out on the Internet these days.
Sincerely,
Mark Dighton, Esq.
Admin. Director, PLI's Patent Bar Review
P.S.: The earlier reply that I am "wrong" due to the first sale doctrine is not correct. I am well aware of the doctrine, and so will not object to any sale of the written materials (only) as long as you can prove to me that the materials are not counterfeits. But the disks are covered by a license that prevents their transfer under any circumstances. So the first sale doctrine does not apply to them. The disks cannot be a part of this sale, in any case.

[JSonnabend]

It would reflect badly on his character?  He has to prove to you that his materials aren't counterfeit?  Oh my.

- Jeff

[maka]

HAHA, PLI Sucks...I bought it...worthless.....here's a taste of the Audio CD's...."John White here,....I'm going to talk slowly over the next 20 hours and bore you to death with bad jokes.... when all you really need to do to pass the Patent Bar is to spend a couple days going through the old exams..."

the old exams are everywhere...here is one source...and yes FREEEEEEE

http://mypatentbar.com/old-exams/

[MarkDighton]

Unfortunately, this writer is wrong on most (probably all) counts:
PLI generally gets rave reviews (though I guess we have one exception here)… see http://www.pli.edu/patentcenter/patentbarreview/testimonials.asp  …much better than our competitors. Check this Website and others. And we have a great pass rate. Patent law isn’t the most exciting substance, but we do our best to make it easily digestible and even a little bit funny. Most of the jokes DO help you remember the rules.
The questions from old exams are not covered by copyright, since they are publicly released. And those old questions do show up in great numbers on most exams today. But we still think they’re not enough to pass the exam today. They haven’t released an exam since 2003, and there have been some significant changes to what they test and how they test it. We take great pains to make sure that our course teaches to the Exam as it is today. And we draft new questions to reflect questions people see on the Exam. People relying on old Exams (or the MPEP itself) for study will probably always get close to passing, but never quite get there (unless they get lucky, or do some extra study on their own outside of the MPEP and old exams).
I’d just ask people to do their due diligence before they take the Exam.
Mark Dighton, Esq.
Admin. Director, PLI's Patent Bar Review

[Spa]

Having passed the exam and having used both the PLI material and other free sources in my prep, I second Maka's comments. I think I seriously got more out of the website, mypatentbar.com than the 2 months I genuinely sent on PLI.

I can see Mark's desperation  !

All of the free sources, including this forum, are the best.

[Yungin]

Although it's an unsettled question of law whether the "First Sale Doctrine" applies to "software"  the Audio CDs and DVDs are not computer software and the "First Sale Doctrine" should apply. 

So what are these threats about the computer disks? Those can be legally resold.  Is Mark Dolt committing a tort in threatening people? unlawful interference with a prospective business relationship? misrepresenting the law? He should be disbarred immediately!!

So the Patware software doesn't include any exam questions beyond whats publicly available? Thanks for that tidbit Mark, I wonder why anyone would want Patware then since the info is all out there.  I've studied the free stuff online and passed the first time - I actually thought it wasn't that bad.  My friends that took PLI said the materials were a waste and they spent too much time on material that wasn't even tested.

Considering the cost of PLI (about 2k)  you could pass the patent bar on the 10th attempt and still save money.  Supposedly, you have a 1 out of 2 chance of passing (and considering how many totally unprepared people take it, if you study one week, your chances are more likely 3 out of 4).  Take my advice, study the free materials, work through the old tests several times and look at the commonly missed questions online (my friends say this info wasn't even in PLI). Even if it takes you two times to pass it, you'll still save well over $1,000.

[Yungin]

WOW, the PLI website has testimonials saying their product is great...imagine that!

OH, and btw courts at least in CA and Washington are currently NOT in PLI's favor as far as enforcing their "rights"

Washington District Court in Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc.(2008) the court followed United States v. Wise,[1] in which films distributed by a studio that were not expected to be returned were deemed sold, and ruled that Autodesk software was sold, and thus eligible for the first-sale doctrine.[2][3]

Federal district courts in California and Texas have issued decisions applying the doctrine of first sale for bundled computer software in Softman v. Adobe (2001) and Novell, Inc. v. CPU Distrib., Inc. (2000) even if the software contains an EULA prohibiting resale. In the Softman case, after purchasing bundled software (a box containing many programs that are also available individually) from Adobe Systems, Softman unbundled it and then resold the component programs. The court ruled that Softman could resell the bundled software, no matter what the EULA stipulates, because Softman had never assented to the EULA. Specifically, the ruling decreed that software purchases be treated as sales transactions, rather than explicit license agreements. In other words, the court ruled that California consumers should have the same rights they would enjoy under existing copyright legislation when buying a CD or a book.

[MarkDighton]

I think I did state quite clearly that there ARE new questions in Patware...questions we've written to reflect what's being tested on the Exam currently. And I'll put our long line of testimonials (http://www.pli.edu/patentcenter/patentbarreview/testimonials.asp) from named individuals from well-regarded schools, firms and corporations up against these anonymous posts any day.
Mark Dighton, Esq.
Admin. Director, Patent Bar Review
PLI

[Yungin]

No response as to the state of the law I see. Your silence is taken as an admission