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by geor9e 31 days ago
As long as we're nitpicking every sense of the word "own", the strongest legal sense means you're the copyright holder, and every sense downstream of that is some lesser license. Buying a disc is a license to view the intellectual property, subject to various restrictions like only showing it within your personal home.
2 comments
ooterness 31 days ago
If the disc is an abstract license, surely the seller will replace the disc if it's scratched. I already bought the license, so what is the real purpose of the physical token?

Somehow the concept of ownership has been twisted to so that obligations only flow in one direction. Rules for thee, not for me.

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wilg 31 days ago
The point OP is making is that it's not the concept of ownership that has been twisted, there just never was ownership of media beyond owning the actual copyright. Everything else is licensing.
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cassianoleal 31 days ago
> various restrictions like only showing it within your personal home

Are you implying that lending the disc to a friend so they can watch in their own home is forbidden? Or taking the disc to the friend's place to watch together?

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wilg 31 days ago
No, those aren't the restrictions. But there are restrictions. First-sale doctrine allows lending. But you are not allowed to play the movie in, say, a restaurant, theater, or other public place.
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cassianoleal 31 days ago
That's fine, but that's very different from what the post to which I was responding said.
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geor9e 31 days ago
Ya got me. You can also show it in your friend's personal home.
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cassianoleal 30 days ago
I understand your snark, but my I wasn't attempting to be pedantic for the sake of it.

Your original message said "buying a disc is a license to view the intellectual property, subject to various restrictions like only showing it within your personal home". This biases the interpretation towards more restrictions than rights, but I don't think that's the case at all. The restrictions are essentially - don't make money out of playing it, don't play it in public. Pretty much anything else goes.

Call all your friends and family to watch with you whenever you want. Lend to your friends. Take it to your friend's house to watch together. Sell it to someone else. Watch it as many times as you want, anywhere and with anyone you want - as long as those restrictions above are respected, which isn't hard to do.

Do I think this is ideal? No, maybe not - but that's the world we live in, and all things considered, that's still substantially more rights than most "digital ownerships" give you.

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