Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddem
I am new to this forum and the world of e-books, and not a copyright specialist. I have searched the forum for the answer to this, but could not find it. I know copyright laws vary from one country to the next, but let's say "in most cases"
|
I'm increasingly of the opinion that
nobody really understands copyright law -- it's just not meant to be understood.
Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddem
1) So let's say I buy a paper book. I read it and I like it. I talk about it to my friend or a member of my family, and I loan it to him. Maybe he loans me one of his books in return. Is this legal?
|
Yup. Totally legal in this case. When you buy a copy of a book you're buying a copy. You have the right to do whatever you like with it with the exception of the things prohibited by the copyright notice. Basically, and generally speaking, you can't make full copies and sell or give them away, and in a lot of cases you just can't make full copies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddem
2) People part of a club or small community loan and exchange books between them. Is this legal?
|
Yup, same deal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddem
3) Same question as 1) and 2), but with e-books. Note that the people involved do NOT make copies, but loan and receive the originals from their peers.
|
Usually this is
not legal. For a couple of reasons. The physically grounded one is that an e-book isn't a physical thing, if you give or loan someone else a copy of it, you almost certainly retain a copy of it yourself: it's inherent in the way the files themselves are handled.
The other reason is that generally speaking, e-books are not, technically, sold, but rather licensed like software. You have to get deep into the licensing small print to find it, bit typically the language more or less says that you're buying access to the text for as long as it pleases the license granter to allow you that access. They also often include language that precludes transfers of the license to a third party.
Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddem
4) If I do 3) on this board, am I going to get kicked out? If not, why is there not an e-book loan and exchange section on this forum?
|
I think the answer to the second part of #4 is pretty clear from my response to your question #2, so I'll just answer the first part.
You could, but only if you did so persistently after being informed that we don't allow that sort of trading around here (which, I suppose this answer does
). Here's a link to our full forum
policy, just for your reference, but the sort answer is that we don't allow it because it
is illegal in most places.
In any case, I really appreciate your asking about it, rather than just going ahead and trying it -- it's a lot easier to explain such things
beforehand than to clean up the messes
after they happen.