Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddem
That is quite funny, indeed. I am no lawyer, and I have not yet purchased e-books online, so I did not get my eyes on such license agreement yet. But then, according to what you are saying, I am entering a license agreement saying that I and only I can get my eyes on the text? So technically, I could get in trouble if I let my old mom read a book on my e-reader (and so could she)!? In the same spirit, when I am at my parents', I should not use my father's computer because the software on it is licensed to him only!? Wonder why they call that "family edition" and the likes, then...
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No ... You're not getting into an agreement that you and only you can get your eyes on the text. You're entering into an agreement that the book can only be read (i.e. loaded onto) on a limited set of devices.
Lend the device with the installed books and everything is good. Lend the "book" to someone to read on their own device and you're probably in breach of your license agreement.
Note that most of the copy-controlled versions of eBooks have provisions for you to license it to a *set* of devices rather than just one. For example, when I buy books from Amazon.com, I can read them on any of the three Kindles which are registered to my account. When I buy a MobiPocket book from Fictionwise, I can read it on my PC, my Blackberry, or my Kindle since those are the PIDs I have registered with Fictionwise.
Some, though not many, of the eBooks that I have bought have the terms-and-conditions included in the text on the title page. Here's a quote from one book I bought from Amazon.com: "eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work."