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by nkrisc 629 days ago
Just like when you buy a book you’re allowed to photocopy it and sell the copies?
2 comments

No, like when you buy a book and the vendor isn't allowed to come into your house and take it away from you with no refund and no recourse.

Creating a copy is violation of copyright. Owning a book, reading it, then reselling the copy you own is not.

'Buying' digital goods nowadays means the vendor can take the goods away from you at any time, for any reason, with zero compensation, and absolutely no possible way to recover said goods.

> Creating a copy is violation of copyright

Correction: creating a copy that doesn't follow fair use requirements, is a violation of copyright.

Buying a book means buying the paper the book is printed on, the intellectual content (text) is not bought. You are allowed to resell the paper. And you are in fact not buying a license to use a book when you buy a book, you are literally buying the actual physical book.
If you were buying the paper, then two books of the same page count (even if those pages were blank) would be the same price and interchangeable. They are not. Likewise if you were paying for the paper, then a book with no paper, such as an audiobook, would be free. Again it is not. You are buying some form of media that contains the intellectual content.