Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy
What US courts have said is that if there is no expectation by the customer that the product will need to be returned, then it is a sale. I assume a time limited access would count has having to "return" the eBook, which would make it a license.
So, if you went to Fictionwise/Amazon/etc and they advertised they were selling you access to an eBook for 6 months, after which the DRM would expire, then you likely won't be able to resell the used eBook. That would be a significant change from the model they are currently selling eBooks under though.
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Note that in the online journals model I mentioned you don't have to "return" anything and all that may expire is your access to download new material, but whatever you have already downloaded won't stop working.
What if Fictionwise/Amazon/etc said that when you "buy" an ebook it is available in your account to download as many times as you wish, but for an unspecified time? They could say that access is guaranteed for 2 years, but beyond that you may have to "renew" the ebook (even if it's for a symbolic price or free, or the renewal could be automatic). The DRM in the files you download does not expire, but at some point the ebooks might not be available for download anymore. Would that count as "licensing"?
I feel that's the current model, although it's probably in the small type of the conditions.