body: I purchased [this board](https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f767zi.html) from [Digi-Key](https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/stmicroelectronics/NUCLEO-F767ZI/497-16525-ND/6004740) for $27.97.
  
  
  Later, I noticed on the ST website that there is a [license agreement](https://www.st.com/resource/en/license_agreement/evaluationproductlicenseagreement.pdf) for the board. (To be clear, I did not agree to the license when I purchased the board from Digi-Key, not even in a click-through fashion.)
  
  
  What disturbs me about the license is that it seems to apply not only to the software/firmware, but to the physical board itself. And it states that:
  
  
  
  > 
  > STMicroelectronics (“ST”) grants You the right to use the enclosed Evaluation Board offering limited features only to evaluate
  >  and test ST products solely for Your evaluation and testing purposes in a research and development setting.
  > 
  > 
  > 
  
  
  It's not clear that my use would be "evaluation and testing," since I intend to actually do something useful/practical with it. (i. e. I am a [maker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture) and intend to incorporate it into a project I'm building.)
  
  
  Furthermore, the license says that the board may not be resold. Although I'm not really intending to resell it, I would generally consider something I bought to be fair game to eBay when I'm done with it and don't need it anymore. How does this restriction fit with the Doctrine of First Sale?
  
  
  I intend to use [open source software](https://os.mbed.com/) on the board, to the extent possible. Though there are possibly some bits of the firmware (maybe the bootloader, for example) which are closed-source and cannot be replaced. Does the existence of this firmware on the board mean that ST Microelectronics can control what the board as a whole is used for?
  
  
  As a hypothetical, could the manufacturer of a washing machine include a "license agreement" which prohibits selling the washing machine to someone else when you don't need it anymore? (And if the answer is "no", what makes it different than my situation?)
  
  
  
title: Can a license agreement apply to a physical object?