Ebooks still fall under the original fair use laws, meaning you can make backups, remove or transfer DRM and transfer to other reader formats provided it stays within your possession. The publishers haven't quite gone to the same lengths that the music/movie mafia has to prevent that (yet).
This is still a grey area of the law which has not been tested in the courts yet as it relates to "digital books", so we go by the latest law which is the Fair Use (quoted below).
Music and movies also have the same fair use laws, BUT they also have the DMCA which essentially states "...if the originally produced media contains no copy protection, then you have the right to make backups or copy to another medium provided it stays within your possession. If the original media DOES contain copy protection or DRM then you must purchase a new or different medium for a different device, or if your original is lost, stolen or leaves your possession for any reason." This is why pretty much ALL music and movies now have DRM or copy protection, except in rare cases where the owner or studio do not add it, to prevent people from copying it, even for personal backup or transfer to new device.
Quote:
17 U.S.C. § 107
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
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