Quote:
Originally Posted by Kris777
Can I buy [a] DRM-free eBook, download it on [to an] SD card and after [I read] it give [the] SD card (don't make the copy) to my friend the same way as I give my paper book?
Is it restricted?
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As I've seen the law interpreted, that should be legal*. You aren't making an illegal copy. Two people are sequentially reading the same copy. That's legal. You give up control of the copy by giving it to your friend. You take the risk that you won't get the physical copy back and have to buy a replacement. All of that make it legit.
Where people weasel is when they say, "I make a backup and then give..." or "I give a copy to my friend, and I don't read my copy while they have one, which they erase when done." All of those are copies, which you have no right to make.
The fundamental problem is that the cost of copying has been reduced to the point of being meaningless. That makes copyright violation so easy everyone can do it. You used to have to be a Taiwanese book pirate with a printing plant to do it and make money. Now you don't make money, but you incur no cost. Your pay-out is in social capital with your friends. The book business has to change. DRM is someone's first, foolish attempt at those changes, but as a vast number of people have pointed out, it won't work. Eventually a workable business model will show up.
Regards,
Jack Tingle
*Disclaimer: Your lawyers may vary.