According to this website, Quilt-Pro teamed up with QNM to develop the software:
http://www.softexpressions.com/software/cd/QNM.htm
"Quilt-Pro and Benartex teaming up with Quilter's Newsletter Magazine to bring you an interactive CD that offers 5 years of articles and projects on CD is just one signal of the maturation of computer quilting! "
I would assume QNM is savvy enough to not permit their partner to sell unauthorized copies of the software.
This CD might have sold well when it first came out, but it is "old" software now. QNM may not find enough profit margin in it to sell on their website, or they could have sold all their CD inventory and the right to sell downloads to Q-P.
What kind of downloaded software did your friends get in trouble for?