Arguing over which label to put on something is really a fruitless endeavour. Yes, legally the form is that of a license. But what does that mean for someone purchasing such a license? The main relevant distinction is that a license imposes conditions and may be subject to revocation for breach of at least the more important conditions. I'll use Amazon as an example here. Amazon's conditions applicable to ebooks are mainly to be found here (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=201014950).
In my opinion Amazon has done a great job with expressing these terms in a reasonably comprehensible way and making them accessible. This is a welcome departure from what I think is almost the norm, where terms are much lengthier, expressed in almost impenetrable legalese and difficult to find. Unfortunately, the terms themselves are very restrictive.
So what do you get for your money? I'm going to make a few observations in no particular order.
Once you download the ebook and pay (including any taxes) you get a right to view, use, and display it, subject to limitations. This is the license. It is granted to you by the "content provider", which may or may not be Amazon. It is subject to many limitations. It is non-exclusive, which is not of any real relevance to readers. Your right to view etc. is expressly for an unlimited number of times but only through a "Reading Application" and only on the specified number of "Supported Devices" for your personal non-commercial use. "Reading Application" is defined and is limited only to software provided by Amazon. Supported devices are limited only to devices on which you are authorised to run reading software.
So far, having looked only at some of the definitions at the beginning of the terms and only at the paragraph titled "use of kindle content" which is digital content obtained through the Kindle Store your rights are severely restricted and well short of what you would normally obtain with either outright ownership or rental. In particular, you can only read the content using Amazon provided software on Amazon "supported devices". Even if you download from the Kindle Store a book in mobi format unencumbered by DRM you breach your license by reading that book in, for instance, Moon Reader or any other non-Amazon provided software. Amazon is very customer friendly but of course the future cannot be guaranteed. Although unlikely, imagine if Amazon was at some future time to limit its supplied reading apps only to its own hardware?
Other limitations are imposed later in the terms and conditions.
Limitations. Unless specifically indicated otherwise, you may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense, or otherwise assign any rights to the Kindle Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove or modify any proprietary notices or labels on the Kindle Content. In addition, you may not attempt to bypass, modify, defeat, or otherwise circumvent any digital rights management system or other content protection or features used as part of the Service.
And if you breach the terms and conditions?
Termination. Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. In case of such termination, you must cease all use of the Service, and Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Service without refund of any fees. Amazon's failure to insist upon or enforce your strict compliance with this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of any of its rights.
This operates automatically. No need for Amazon to give you notice. Your license has terminated. You must not use Amazon's "service", and, at least on a literal reading, you have no right to read your Kindle ebooks.
Of course, Amazon would never enforce this, would they? Probably not in most cases, but I think they probably already do in selected ones. These terms are a very big stick indeed. This may be one reason why Paul is finding it impossible to get a proper reply from Amazon as to their policy where accounts are terminated. In any case where there has been a breach Amazon arguably has no obligation whatsoever to allow any access to purchased ebooks. After all, such a former account-holder has no license to read them. Only if there has been no breach would Amazon literally have an obligation.
This has been a very cursory look and does not cover all objectionable terms in this admirably short and succinct document, let alone related relevant documents. I have not even tried to predict what a Court may do if ruling on some of these terms. I like Amazon, and have not singled them out for any reason other than the accessibility, clarity and limited size of the relevant terms and conditions. The practice of draconian agreements with terms that are most unlikely to be enforced is common in most industries, and I suspect most of Amazon's competitors will have similar or even worse terms. I certainly purchase most of my ebooks from Amazon and plan to continue to do so.
I might add that anyone who has ever removed DRM has not only breached their Amazon license agreement but that such agreement has terminated automatically. So, if you read these books, is it correct to say it is quasi-piracy?
At the end of the day I suspect that even many readers who are not totally indifferent to the terms and conditions don't bother with software and electronic content terms and conditions when they are so one-sided and draconian that they have no intention of being bound by them.