[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #325: A new hope for ebook lending?

[Editor]

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/>
OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #325: A new hope for ebook lending?
March 13th, 2013

digital copyrightNobody gets excited about copyright law (well, almost 
nobody), but over the years we've posted several items of copyright news 
in this blog, because many of the problems with libraries and ebook 
lending are copyright-related. So here we are again, with a post about 
copyright, because Amazon and Apple have just recently applied for 
patents on systems that would allow people to resell digital materials, 
including ebooks. This will open a discussion of the current 
interpretation of copyright law as it applies to digital items, and will 
probably lead to some high-profile court cases. ReDigi, an early 
reseller of digital goods, has already been sued by Capitol Records. 
Such court cases could have a direct effect on what libraries can 
legally do with ebooks.

  * Imagining a swap meet for e-books and music
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/technology/revolution-in-the-resale-of-digital-books-and-music.html>
    (New York Times/David Streitfeld) "For over a century, the ability
    of consumers, secondhand bookstores and libraries to do whatever
    they wanted with a physical book has been enshrined in law. The
    crucial 1908 case involved a publisher that issued a novel with a
    warning that no one was allowed to sell it for less than $1. When
    Macy's offered the book for 89 cents, the publisher sued. That led
    to a landmark Supreme Court ruling limiting the copyright owner's
    control to the first sale. After that, it was a free market. Sales
    of digital material are considered licenses, which give consumers
    little or no ability to lend the item."
  * Apple joins Amazon in quest to establish market for used ebooks
    <http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/apple-joins-amazon-in-quest-to-establish-market-for-used-ebooks/>
    (Digital Book World) "ReDigi's position is that the so-called 'first
    sale doctrine' applies to digital files, which would mean that it
    would be legal for an individual to sell her own property (a digital
    file). The first sale doctrine essentially limits the copyright
    holder's rights to the first sale of each copy of a work, meaning
    that the new owner (the first buyer) can re-sell that copy of the
    work without permission or limitation from the original copyright
    holder. While ReDigi bills itself as an exchange for used digital
    music, there are obvious implications for the ebook market."
  * Sale of used e-books getting closer
    <http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/56004-sale-of-used-e-books-getting-closer.html>
    (Publishers Weekly/Judith Rosen) "...ReDigi uses a so-called
    'verification engine' to determine whether a given song, or soon an
    e-book, has been legally downloaded and can be resold. And it
    provides an 'atomic transaction' that transfers content without
    copying it. 'With ReDigi's method,' states [CEO John] Ossenmacher,
    'only the "original" good is instantaneously/atomically transferred
    from seller to buyer, without any copies.'"
  * Apple follows Amazon with patent for resale of e-books, music
    <http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/apple-follows-amazon-with-patent-for-resale-of-e-books-music/>
    (Ars Technica/Jacqui Cheng) "With digital powerhouses like Apple and
    Amazon seemingly on the same wavelength, content owners may be
    feeling the pressure to comply, even if they think their work is
    being devalued. There's another angle to these patents as well. If
    Apple and Amazon were to create markets for used digital goods, it
    would put them in conflict with the software industry. The software
    industry has fought hard for the right to stop resales it doesn't
    like-and it has generally won the argument that digital goods are
    'licensed' and can't be resold."

*/First sale fact:/*

John Palfrey's post 
<http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2013/03/copyright/why-we-miss-the-first-sale-doctrine-in-digital-libraries/> 
last week on Library Journal's "Digital Shift" blog explains how the 
first sale doctrine is fundamental to the library business.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The */OPLIN 4cast/* is a weekly compilation of recent headlines, topics, 
and trends that could impact public libraries. You can subscribe to it 
in a variety of ways, such as:

  * *RSS feed.* You can receive the OPLIN 4cast via RSS feed by
    subscribing to the following URL:
    http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2.
  * *Live Bookmark.* If you're using the Firefox web browser, you can go
    to the 4cast website (http://www.oplin.org/4cast/) and click on the
    orange "radio wave" icon on the right side of the address bar. In
    Internet Explorer 7, click on the same icon to view or subscribe to
    the 4cast RSS feed.
  * *E-mail.* You can have the OPLIN 4cast delivered via e-mail (a'la
    OPLINlist and OPLINtech) by subscribing to the 4cast mailing list at
    http://mail.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast.


OPLIN 4Cast
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.oplin.org/pipermail/oplin4cast/attachments/20130313/4fa93056/attachment-0003.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: kubrickheader.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 38379 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.oplin.org/pipermail/oplin4cast/attachments/20130313/4fa93056/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: digital-copyright.png
Type: image/png
Size: 6543 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.oplin.org/pipermail/oplin4cast/attachments/20130313/4fa93056/attachment-0003.png>