Quote:
Originally Posted by rrburton
There is a difference between what pirates and hackers "can" do and what is actually right which we are discussing here.
It seems that it comes down this - electronic versions are inherently different than paper versions. You can hand your paper version of something to another person. To lend someone your electronic version you must break the copyright rules to do so.
|
Look at it this way. It is perfectly legal to make a backup copy of a DVD or CD, right? Now, suppose you want to lend the DVD to a friend. Do you have to lend him the original, keeping the backup? Or can you lend him the backup, keeping the original? Is there any actual difference between the two?
I'd say there's no difference, so it doesn't matter which one you lend him, so long as he actually means to return it.
That being the case, how is it any different to lend him an electronic copy, which is, after all, only your perfectly legal backup copy of your ebook?
It seems to me that if you are really "lending" the book (as opposed to permanently transferring a copy to someone else) it is "fair use" to make a copy in order to do the lending.
I'm talking, of course, about a situation where the person who "borrows" the ebook deletes it after reading. (We won't get into the question of whether it's legal to make the copy and give it away. I think it is legal, although I also think it is a breach of contract.)
Quote:
|
Even if your intent is to copy the work to a medium then immediately delete it from it's previous location you have broken the rules by having in your possession momentarily 2 copies when you had only paid for one copy in the first place. The only way around that is to initially obtain the electronic version onto a storage medium and lend your original storage medium which defeats the flexibility of the electronic medium partially.
|
If your intent is to wind up with only one copy, and one copy is what you end up with, then the temporary existence of two copies in the course of making the transfer is inherent in the medium. That being the case, if the law contemplates that it is legal to transfer a copy to someone else, then the normal and customary mode of transfer will also be legal. You can depend on it - the law always accommodates the normal way of doing something if the end result is legal. If it didn't, things would grind to a halt.