united-states copyright
Is breaching ToS of installed software automatically a copyright infringement?
<p>Suppose entity X offers some software (maybe for free, maybe for a price) bundled with some terms of service. Suppose person Y (after paying any relevant price) installs the software following X's instructions. Suppose Y then breaches the terms of service. Has Y then infringed copyright (assuming it is not considered fair use)?</p>

<p><a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/a/25830">This answer</a> presents the following argument:</p>

<ul>
<li>Installing the software constituted making a copy of it.</li>
<li>This copy was only authorized by X on the condition that Y complies with the terms of service.</li>
<li>This condition was not met, so the copy was not authorized, so it infringed copyright.</li>
</ul>

<p>This surprised me since I imagined (maybe incorrectly, IANAL) copyright infringement to be a more serious issue than ToS violation. <a href="https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e4b1226a-b6b4-4915-8897-a8e474060481" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This article</a> also seems to contradict the above:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>However, if a company violates a license by, for example, failing to purchase additional licenses through the publisher, instead of through an otherwise authorized reseller, then the violation could form the basis of a breach-of-contract claim, but not a copyright claim – none of the exclusive rights would be affected by failure to follow specified payment or transaction terms.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Copyright infringement occurs if you make a copy without authorization. I don't believe you can <em>retroactively</em> revoke someone's authorization to copy because you don't like what they did later. Therefore, it would seem that your scenario would not be infringement.</p>

<p>It may, however, be a breach of contract, since you promised certain things in exchange for that authorization to copy but did not uphold them.</p>
