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Originally Posted by jasonkchapman
They most likely won't. Though it never went to trial, RH got the door slammed in their face twice by the courts. They will, most likely, have to live with the results of the Rosetta Books deal. I think this is sabre rattling on RH's part, in the hopes that no one wants to spend money on the lawyers. I'm not sure RH really wants the phrase "in book form" to be defined in a courtroom, since it's not likely to go their way.
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Although if "book form" is legally defined to include ebooks, that opens the door for a claim of legal rights to give away or resell ebooks. Publishers who want to restrict that right would have to be a lot clearer about "licensing" instead of "selling" ebooks--including matching legal requirements for a license, like a time-restriction.
Telling customers "you can purchase the right to read this for one year" would result in a severe drop in sales. Right now, they bury the "this is a license" claim in EULAs and site FAQ pages, rather than saying it anywhere near the shopping cart area--and the claim doesn't hold up to legal rulings about what's considered a license instead of a sale.