Quote:
Originally Posted by dmaul1114
it does, they'll probably put the same restrictions they have on software--that if they want to do it that way, they have to be upfront that you're buying a license to read the book on machines tied to your account. Not buying the file to own. That or they just scrap DRM as a result of the ruling.
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It's too much of a tangled mess for them to pull that off, at this rate.
One of the requirements for "license" rather than "sale" is an expected return date or condition--if you get to keep it permanently, it's a sale, and usage restrictions don't apply. So ebook sellers would need to specify a date that your books expire ("five years from purchase," if they want to be generous), or maybe a condition for expiration ("when we release the new firmware, which doesn't happen more than once a year" or "when we renew the contract with that publisher"--not "when we feel like it."). You can't license something for indefinite use and yank it back whenever you feel like it, and you can't just say "it's a license so I can change my mind about how you get to use it anytime I want."
DRM'd library books are licensed; they stop working after 2 weeks. DRM'd kindlebooks are sold; they're supposed to work forever.
And after several years of selling ebooks like products, not licenses, they'll have a hard time convincing customers to "license" books that they used to buy. Especially if they try to pull, "last month, those were sales; now we're implementing limited licenses for the same price."