Wow, thanks for contributing that bit of research Scroggs. Much appreciated.
New information has come to my attention since yesterday. Now, this may not be the intention but as a whole the suppliers and manufacturers appear to want to have it all their way.
According to the EULA the large sum of money you pay for these CDs (arguably more than most people ever pay for their Windows Operating system) gives you ownership of the physical CDs and a license to use the software (but which is not transferable in any way, shape or form as has already been established).
Here's the new information: A person on the flyer forums is requesting assistance in getting hold of a replacement for one of the CDs that has become damaged and will no longer run the software. By my reckoning since the CD is his property and its now damaged but his license to use the software should remain intact he should be able to pay a small fee to cover the cost of posting and packing a replacement CD and perhaps the cost of the CD but should not be charged for a new license for the software (which is mostly what you pay for when you buy these CDs). However it appears that he is being refused a replacement unless he pays for the license again. As far as I am aware not even the notorious Microsoft would take this stance, you CAN get replacements for damaged MS CDs so long as you can prove license to use the software.
So put this guy's situation next to my situation and you end up with confusion all around - either as customers we own our copy of the software or we own the cds after sale - they can't still own both and us nothing because if they did that would mean we have paid for thin air and that amounts to theft. [sarcasm]Stop me before I get carried away[/sarcasm]
I'm going to post a copy of the EULA as pasted to the flyer forums after this post ...