I just finished a book from Harper Collins*), and for some reason actually read the copyright notice at the end:
Quote:
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By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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They don't want to allow me to
download the book? To
store it anywhere? How do they imagine that people who buy their ebooks are able to read them on a screen without downloading and storing them?
It's not as if they're able to enforce this, but this kind of absurdity it does make me less inclined to buy ebooks from Harper Collins in the future. If they don't want me to download their books, I can try to honor their wishes, but in that case there's no point in me buying them either. (I can't promise I'll be completely consistent. If they publish something I really, really want to read, I might burden them with my money in spite of their clearly stated wishes.) I looked at a few other books, and found the same nonsense from Harlequin, so that's another publisher who apparently doesn't actually want customers.
Does anyone have any idea of the thought processes behind this kind of notice? Is it usual, and I just haven't noticed before?
*) "The Golem and the Jinni" by Helene Wecker, strongly recommended, despite the silly publisher!