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It's actually an interesting question that I don't think has been fully tested through the courts. Many people (most?) don't even understand that when they "purchase" an ebook, they're only purchasing a license to read the ebook rather than the purchase they make of a physical book in a bookshop. This might turn into an interesting argument regarding whether the "license" is in fact a contract of adhesion that can't be enforced or for which the enforcement might be limited. Further, sales tax is almost always being applied even though in some instances, the limited or revocable license may not, in fact, be appropriately included within a sales tax regime. So it would be very interesting to see how courts would handle the question of whether rights in and to an ebook could be transferred and whether the license would be enforceable or treated as a sale. The distinction between the electronic model and the physical model of "book" would be fun for a court to work through. But companies like Amazon can pay really good lawyers a lot of money.
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