Quote:
Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom
If the first sale doctrine is ever applied to ebooks, the library will benefit immensely.
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Maybe with fiction. But libraries are mostly non-fiction.
In my opinion, libraries would be harmed because the economic damage to publishers would mean lower advances, with fewer non-fiction book proposals being accepted. So a lot of good books they would have wanted to buy will never have been written.
First sale doctrine works economically because a used paper book is of lower physical quality than a new one. Because of that, the used price provides a floor publishers can price new books above. By contrast, a used eBook market would push the new price all the way down to the used price, since there would be no new/used difference in quality.
In my opinion, the US Supreme Court is not going to apply first sale to eBooks because a number of the justices are non-fiction authors, and it would hurt their income. Most people find a way to reconcile their financial interest with principles, and the justices are human.