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If I purchase something, I have certain rights. Among those rights are "First Sale" rights - meaning that I have the right to resell the item - and the publisher has no say in the matter.
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Not at all - there are many things that you buy licences for that cannot be re-sold. A lot of computer software, for example, has non-transferrable licences. Software and eBooks have a great deal in common, in fact; in both cases you are buying a licence to use the product - all that you "own" is the physical medium on which the software is supplied.
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Since the format of a DRMed eBook is (by necessity) closed and proprietary, and since the license does not permit you to read the eBook with any other reader, you are, in effect, only licensed to read that eBook for a limited time (since your reader will at some point stop working for one reason or another).
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But buy in a format such as, say, MobiPocket, and you can read on a huge range of different devices. No reason to suppose that a time will come in the foreseeable future when you'll no longer be able to obtain a MobiPocket Reader.
I agree that if you buy in a format that's only used by a single manufacturer, your options are much more limited. But that's a decision that you have to make, as an informed purchaser.