Re: first sale doctrine

On Thu, 23 Mar 2000, Douglas M. Isenberg <disenberg[_at_]gigalaw.com> wrote:
>
> I have not downloaded the reader or the e-book, but I suspect
> the user agreement for one or both of these files might restrict
> transferability of the e-book (in addition to the technological
> transfer restrictions that are built-in and apparently pretty
> stringent). However, if the agreements do not attempt to override
> the first-sale doctrine, then shouldn't someone who downloaded the
> e-book be able to give or sell it to someone else without violating
> copyright law? (Of course, who wants to give their laptop to someone
> else just so they can read a free or cheap novella?!)

Re the Stephen King novella, I downloaded both the software and the e-book to see what it said about first-sale and other rights. To download the software, users must agree to a standard agreement that seemed to be limited to the software itself and its documentation. There is no user agreement to download the book itself, but once it is downloaded, there is a notice called "Book Permissions" that reads as follows:

"Copy: No text selections can be copied from this book to the clipboard.

Print: No printing is permitted for this book.

Lend: This book cannot be lent to someone else.

Give: This book cannot be given to someone else."

(By the way, the instructions that come with the Glassbook Reader software indicate that it is up to the publisher of the book to decide what rights readers are allowed.)

To read these "permissions," you have to be looking for them -- I had to click Menu then Info then Permissions to get to them. And there is no language that says, "By reading this book, you agree to the terms of the publisher's permissions," such as you find on most Web sites that have User Agreements.

Are these terms enforceable? Are readers "manifesting assent" to the terms, when the terms aren't readily found? I'm not sure I see a contract here.

Kathy Olson
Ph.D. student in Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill kko[_at_]mindspring.com Received on Fri Mar 24 2000 - 17:07:05 GMT