Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
In the U.S., stripping the DRM isn't "violating copyright" but it does violate the DCMA law.
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That is an often repeated mantra. It refers to Title 17, Chapter 12, § 1201, (a)(1)(A) and (a)(1)(C), which provides for stripping DRM only for classes of protected work determined by the Library of Congress, which do not currently included ebooks.
However, paragraph (f)(1) and (f)(2) specifically allows for stripping DRM (from a work that you have lawfully obtained) for purposes of "identifying and analyzing those elements of the program that are necessary to achieve interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs."
In other words, for purposes of converting your Kindle book to run on your nook reader.
And (f)(3) specifically allows the sharing of whatever information is needed to achieve that interoperability.
So it's not so clear-cut a matter as many would have us believe. There is, in fact, a very large grey area in the matter, that can only be resolved by the courts, and the case law just isn't there yet.
(There is a lot of case law relating to software, however, that seem likely to be used as a guide - and it favors the rights of the end user to strip any technological protections from data files
and even programs themselves for purposes of moving stuff they've paid for from one computer to another. So it'd be a surprise, though not a big one these days, if the "you can't strip DRM in order to make local backups" camp wins.)
And yes, when you "buy" an ebook, you do agree in the contract that you are actually renting it, but there's quite a lot of case law (mostly at the state level, unfortunately) that says that those provisions are meaningless (and some that says they're enforceable). The general analysis is that if you a) pay a one time fee, and b) get use for an indefinite period of time, that it is a "sale of goods," not a license,
no matter what the sales contract says. And if it is a sale of goods, then the first sale doctrine applies, and that's that.
In other words, they can't limit this sort of thing for the same reason they can't put a sticker on a paper book saying you can't sell it to someone else when you're done with it. The law just doesn't work that way. Copyrights are governed by
copyright law, not contract law.