Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike L
There's no mention of ebooks in the BBC story you quoted, but the Hargreaves Review covers all aspects of copyright law. It's highly unlikely that the proposed changes will only apply to CDs, DVDs, etc.
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Hmm I'm still a little uncertain that ebooks would ever get mentioned in this law. In Australia we have had the right to format shift for some time now (though copyright circumvention is illegal - go figure), and fairly clearly to be allowed to format shift you must own the original copy, and own a device capable of shifting the format to play on, but you can only format shift to one format, not several ie: if you have an ipod and say a zune, you can't as my understanding of the law format shift to one format for your ipod and another for the zune.
The reason I feel ebooks wont get mentioned is the fact that ebooks are licensed (well from majority of the big sellers, some you would own such as Baen or Smashwords), not purchased and owned (hence no first sale doctrine). I'm feeling format shifting ebooks is like renting a DVD, you are not allowed to format shift.
Don't get me wrong, I would like to think that one day we as consumers have the free right to purchase an ebook and convert it to be able to read it on our ereader which isn't supported by the original format or seller.