Quote:
Originally Posted by zerospinboson
That said, they will probably win (whoever they would have to sue for that to be meaningful) because of the fact that people expect to buy a copy, rather than a licence, and the other side won't be able to explain satisfactorily why people no longer have a right to own rather than lease a copy, but I doubt this will happen any time soon.
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The problem, as I see it, is there are conflicting laws (at least in the US). US courts have already ruled on the "is it a sale or a license" question with regards to software, which is very similar to ebooks, saying that as long as there is no expectation that the customer needs to return the item then it is a sale. However, DRM prevents you from doing things you are supposed to be able to do when the product was sold to you, and the DMCA tries to prevent you from stripping the DRM.
I don't know if that contradiction will ever get resolved. I do know that as far as personal use, I will make my own moral decision. As long as it's personal use, how will the publisher ever know (let alone why should they care).