ebook piracy numbers

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by HarryT

However, to counter your cogent summary, I would argue that any sale must, by its very nature, involve making an unauthorised copy, and hence be a violation of copyright law.

Not necessarily.

I buy from Fictionwise; I normally download the files to a flash drive because I generally borrow someone else's computer. (I can download them on my home computer at dialup speeds, but that's not my preference.)

I take the flash drive home, copy contents onto my hard drive & ebook reader. Legit, authorized copies. I decide to sell my ebooks. I delete the copies on my hard drive & ebook reader, and sell the flash drive, with contents, to someone else.

This involves attaching the digital content to a physical medium, which shouldn't be required to resell a purchase, but does neatly sidestep the problem of "making a copy" in order to sell the content.

Someone else now owns a legit collection of ebooks, which they can copy according to whatever laws govern copies-of-digital-purchases, which are a *mess*, but that's not the point. Whether Someone Else gives me back the flash drive afterward is irrelevant--they bought the ebooks legally, with no unauthorized copies being made.

I could, hypothetically, still download those books from Fictionwise--if they're still available. FW doesn't promise to keep them available. I have no idea if FW will remove books from a library by request; I'm *certain* they won't transfer them to someone else. So I could, reasonably (which is not the same as "legally," which is fuzzy here) keep access to those downloads for the sole purpose of transferring them to the new owner of those ebooks, for as long as FW keeps them available.

However, whether I have access to them or not, if I don't re-download them, I haven't made any unauthorized copies. If "access to copies" is a violation of copyright law, every owner of a home copy/print/scanner is a criminal.

FW's, Smashwords' and Amazon's claims that digital purchases are not transferable is not supported by US law. (And I'm told, not by UK law, but I'm less aware of precedents there.) Reselling may be a violation of contract, and for that, the company may close the buyer's account, but I don't think there's grounds to sue for damages; no damage has been done to the seller.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by HarryT

For the same reason that you can't re-sell a track that you download from iTunes; the practical aspect of it

Is it even possible to have Amazon transfer an ebook from one account to another? After having them remove it from your device and computer? Would there still be a way for the original owner to access a backup copy?

Same with B&N who use a different DRM scheme.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by wgwood

So how does this apply to making backup copies of books that we purchase. Are these not "unauthorized copies" as well? If some of your 17,000 books are still under copyright, and you have them backed up in multiple locations, wouldn't that constitute massive copyright fraud?

Or, if the DRM is still intact and the book can only be read on an authorized device, is it ok to make backup copies?

I am new to this form of reading and I highly enjoy it, but I have backup copies of my ebooks in several locations as well. Am I violating the law?

Should I lock my door?

Regards,
Greg

Making backups of your own digital media is fine, as long as you're the only person using them. What you can't do - and this is the problem with reselling - is give a copy to somebody else.