Quote:
Originally Posted by ApK
I'm sorry, but this whole discussion of "rent, lease, buy" is misapplied and irrelevant. Digital intellectual property is DIFFERENT than physical goods, and you have DIFFERENT rights concerning it's use. To try to claim an entitlement to someone's IP because of what you can or can't do to a car you buy is NOT appropriate, and trying to shoehorn the terms from one to fit the other can only lead to disapointment.
Fact is, whether you "buy" a paperback or an ebook, you STILL have only certain restricted licensed rights, most notably those governed by copyright law, as to what you can do with the content.
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If the sales-of-ebooks are actually sales-of-licenses-to-read-ebooks, the terms of the sale need to say that, and establish the license's terms of use. Most ebook sales sites (all, perhaps) don't do this--
1) They call their offerings "sales of books" ("click here to buy this book!" not "click here to license this book!")
2) The terms of sale have no end date or condition, which is required for use-licenses in the US (there's no legal allowance for "This is a license to use forever, but only in ways I allow you to use it").
3) The restrictions on use are buried far away from the actual collect-your-money pages; sometimes, you're not required to see them at all before buying. Certainly, you're not shown the contract terms before *each* sale, the way you are for other licenses. People are not bound to contract terms that weren't mentioned before the sale.
4) The actual terms of use aren't spelled out *anywhere.* Some restrictions are described; where terms are mentioned, they go far beyond any reasonable legal allowance ("only the buyer may read this book"--what, I can't allow my husband access to my computer when that book is open? I can't read it out loud to my kids?) and imply that purchasers don't have fair use rights.
5) The copyright page in many ebooks includes claims that are not legally enforceable, just like the page in many print books that claim you can't use ANY of the contents AT ALL without written permission--denying all fair use ability.
If ebooks are licensed, not sold, the stores licensing them need to detail those licenses. Some have license descriptions; many do not--they just say "you can't resell this," although that's a meaningless, non-enforceable statement.
When you buy a disc of music, you have the right to sell that disc later. The issue of what, exactly, you are buying is secondary (the disc? The music on it?)--the legal issue is whether you BOUGHT something, or licensed it.
Selling is simple; it takes two people and an exchange of goods, services and/or money. Licensing is complicated; it has to be fully described. None of the current ebook stores describe their licenses fully, and none of them require buyers to acknowledge they've read & understood the license. ("Click here to agree or you can't buy" is not the same as establishing understanding.) They all work to *hide* their licenses--either long webpages in tiny grey print, buried several layers away from the "BUY THIS NOW" part of the site, or popup boxes with small windows when you first install the reading software--but not when you buy books.