[archaeolept]

you could buy someone else's copy privately, and he could give you the cd key in time.

I don't have a spare copy - few would - but that should be perfectly legal.

/shrug

you could also both just d/l the demo and play a short (turn limited to 40 iirc) blitz just to get him familiarized.

however, I would warn against buying a copy on ebay or suchlike, as there have certainly been instances in the past where the buyer got a pirated and hence bad key.