DawnFalcon,
To return to the OPs question. Can there be a used market for eBooks? I repeat an emphatic No. Any attempt to do so would encourage more DRM.
However, you make a very valid point about Law right now. My suggestion is that we change this law.
Am I anti-consumer? No. Not at all. I am anti-DRM, and against publishers and bookstores telling me how I can use their digital product. You may strongly disagree with me, and call me anti-consumer if you like for feeling this way. It is a fair argument. I just feel that DRM is more harmful than lack of resale rights.
I am also pro-author and pro-creator (ok, my face just turned red when i reread that). I think that seeing digital purchases as a per-household arrangement one time sale is the best compromise.
So where do we go from here? Your arguments about EU Law are likely correct (In the US, likely not. Assume that consumers have no rights in the land-of-the-free-and-brave). Certainly many of us assume that purchasing an eBook confers ownership, and the rights of ownership seem to include the rights of resellers.
I think we need to have a Digital Consumers and Creators Bill of Rights Treaty. It would confer on consumers the right to:
* Consume purchased media on any device they wish, as long as this does not include public display of the media.
* Share media with all members of a household, within reason. A household would not, for example, include an entire dorm. Furthermore, for corporate consumers, unless explicitly stated, the right to consume the media would go to a single employee.
* Backup, preserve, convert, and modify media in any way they choose, as long as it is for personal use and not resold or distributed outside of a single household.
* Digital media ownership grants rights to content. Content would not need to be repurchased. If a new medium is developed for same content, the consumer is within his/her rights to convert it or to commission a third party to perform this conversion.
In return for these rights, come these responsibilities:
* Digital Content cannot be resold without the permission of the copyright owner.
Compare the above set of rights and responsibilities to a system which would maintain current right of resale and ownership:
* Digital content can be purchased and used by one individual.
* Transfer of content is legal, as long as transfer is permanent.
* Consumer can't convert media to another format, or distribute media without exchanging the license.
* To ensure that the system works, a DRM scheme would be required, and violating the DRM would be a criminal offense.
Of course the ideal CONSUMER system would grant all the rights of the first and the second, without the DRM. Problem here is that the system will be abused. The current used CD market is an example of this abuse.
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