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A privilege to temporarily view the content on devices that the seller approves, as long as they approve. This privilege can be revoked at any time, including for reasons having nothing to do with you (such as the seller having a fight with the copyright holder), and the content can be modified or removed at any moment. And you pay for that more than for the paper copy, because it sucks to be a sucker.


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to the owners of the content, it's similar to scanning a book at a library then reselling it without their permission

The most logical reading of the or is that you are allowed to display the content as many times as you want, and those displays may either be on the screen or in another manner that has been authorized by Amazon.

That said, I'm sure their lawyers will be able to spin it as meaning that they grant you the right to keep the copy as authorized by them.


>A limited copy, only for use in "operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones

also to:

>reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content

So not even family photos because you lose the right to keep them private.


Possessors of copyright can waive certain rights if they so choose.

You can only use it for a short while, they get a copy as well.

It provides a narrow legal shield if in the case you get popped by the FEDs for owning or distributing copywritten material.

"But Feds, I paid for this copy, just stripped the DRM off of it."


It is actually the right to exclude others from making copies.

It is not an absolute right either. Even the most hardcore maximalists accept that there are some conditions under which that right does not exist, c.f. Jack Valenti's acknowledgement that it would be unconstitutional if the term of copyright was forever.

http://www.jwz.org/blog/2003/11/forever-less-one-day/


What does this mean for their copy protection? How can they prevent people from downloading/printing works now?

It prevents the illegal distribution of copyrighted material.

A simple rule of thumb from someone who is not a lawyer. Is the thing you wish to download the property of someone else, and have they granted you the right to view/use it. I think the answer is pretty clear here.

In this case the content was legally obtained.

Its pretty simple actually, the owner of the copy 'right' expressly authorizes the copy being given to you. That is in accordance with the law. So any number of examples, you buy a book at the book store, you buy a DVD, you watch a movie at the theater, all of these actions result in a 'copy' of the work coming into your possession that is sanctioned by the owner of the right.

Any illegal copy is one in which the owner hasn't sanctioned transferring a copy to you.

Copyright law carves out specific exemptions for lending libraries and the First Sale doctrine, part of the unified commercial code (UCC) gives you the right to transfer your copy to a third party as long as no new copies are created (so you no longer have a copy).

Note I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.


There are other words you can use. You can grant people a nonexclusive license to redistribute unmodified copies of the work without cost.

no because you own the physical paper but only a license for the content

Ridiculous distinction.

I can own content. I can print it or burn it to a DVD and give it to a friend. But I can't just send him a link?

Ridiculous.


In the US context- A) Copyright terms have increased 5 fold over the centuries. B) The Supreme has ruled, at least in many contexts, that creating a backup copy of a work is fair use. I believe generally this applies so long as the backups are not sold or distributed separately from the original.

So, at least in some context this is false- the reader's right is to the information contained within the physical copy, not just the physical copy itself.


I don't see any legal difference between the content and access to the content because circumventing copy protection is still a copyright violation.

I am curious, however, whether this will be a copyright case or contract case.


In Switzerland we pay a premium on every bit of storage sold (devices, disks etc.) and have the right to make a private copy. So you are allowed to copy any media you bought or rented. This law also makes it legal to download any media from the internet. But you aren't allowed to distribute it so torrents and upload the media, but you are allowed to give a copy to friends and family.

While it has its problems like why do I pay this on a HDD, SSD, computer or smartphone that I exclusively use for work? It definitely has its upsides as in making a backup copy of your media and circumventing copy protection isn't in some legal gray area or straight up illegal.

Edit: There are attempts to make this law more restrictive and they succeeded in offering products to circumvent copy protection illegal. But you are allowed to use them to exercise the rights above.


There are a variety of reasons that you can have a copy of a copyrighted work it a way the copyright holder didn't intend, such as time shifting or media shifting.
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