Quote:
Originally Posted by mandy314
Providers of digital content allowing re-selling would widen the scope of personal use - but the buyer would still breaking copyright laws when re-selling unless the providers would give up on copyright completely (allowing "Vervielfältigung für Dritte"). So in the end the court sees the clause of Term of Use prohibiting re-selling as declamatory, complementary to the legal situation and "good consumer advice". A Term Of Use allowing re-selling of digital content must be deemed illegal following this argumentation.
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Bold mine.
I don't know what the copyright differences are in Germany, but in the US this really wouldn't make sense. When the copyright holder sells via a retailer, they are agreeing to allow their books to be licensed under the terms that a retailer uses. Provided that the retailer acquires the copyright holder's agreement to new terms when reselling is implemented (assuming they had an agreement in place prior), there would be nothing illegal at any point for any of them.
Copyright isn't all or nothing. The copyright holder has the right to give up all of their rights, some of their rights, or all of their rights for a limited time, etc. As a writer, photographer and musician, I am able to allow various uses of my work, in various contexts, while still maintaining any rights I don't expressly give up. It's all about contracts.
There have been ebooks sold with terms granting the purchaser very similar rights to that of a physical book. The terms spelled out the conditions under which the book may be resold, lent, etc, rather than prohibiting these actions. There's nothing illegal about it, for either party, because such a statement grants a limited right to copy for the purposes of taking these actions, provided any conditions are met.
Is copyright handled that differently in Germany that the copyright holder / licensor doesn't have the right to grant permission to resell to the consumer?