I've thought about this a lot, and I think at some point, fair use is going to have to come into it. Fair use is most often described as what a 'reasonable' person would consider fair. So, consider these examples:
1) I am at my sister's house and pick up a paperback book off her coffee table. I look at it. Then we go outside together, and she says 'bring it with you if you want' and I do. So far, so good, right?
2) I am at my sister's house and while we are chatting, I am tooling around on her computer and happen upon an ebook, which I start reading. Still good, right?
3) Then we want to go outside. 'Let me put that on my Palm for you' she says. And she puts it on her palm and we take it outside. Still okay, right? Her ebook, her palm device...
4) 'Oops, I can't find my Palm. Have you got one? Great.' And she loads it onto MY Palm device, and outside to the garden we go. Same net effect, but suddenly we are in a grey area...
I personally think that in scenario 4, as long as I don't *keep* the file after I'm finished reading it, it should be permitted because it would be the same as loaning a paper book. But who knows, this might not be allowed
I think it's silly. One time, my sister did loan me an ebook (and yes, I consider it a loan as it went straight into my device, and I deleted it when I was done) and this ebook included sample chapters of the author's other works, and I wound up buying one