Well OK if you say so but all of my "upgrades" have come through as full versions. Did you put in the 2009 or 2009.5 disc and try to install?
My first purchase was version 10. I still have all of my "upgrades". I just finished un- installing my 2010.5 and installed, 11,2004,2005,2006,2008 I quit after that. I un-installed each version prior to installing the next. The point being that everyone of my discs is a "full" version even though I purchased an "upgrade".