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Copyright question about Ebooks.
Cleburne, TX
Viewed 19 times.
Posted about 1 month ago in Intellectual Property
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Ok, so I'm not totally clear on this, so it is a legal question really. So, I like to have hard copies of books. I can only use one hand, so that makes physical books difficult to hold open, as you can imagine. So, here is the proposed situation:
Let us say I go to the book store and buy a book, then I find a torrent or some other way to get the Ebook of the actual book that I own for free. Is that illegal? I'm not sure how copyright laws work, but since I bought the book, why would I have to buy the book again? Is there maybe an article or something discussing this subject, or what? I was thinking maybe this argument under "fair use" would apply: the purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of commercial or non-profit nature and whether the use is "transformative" Answers (3)
Pamela Koslyn
This attorney is licensed in California.
Posted about 1 month ago.
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If you buy a book, you can read it, sell it, give it away, or just keep it on your shelves. But you can't copy it and distribute copies of it just because you paid for the one copy you own. The copyright owner of the book and their licensees are the only ones with the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute it. Same with an eBook.
So if you download an eBook without paying for it, it's copyright infringement, even if you paid for the hard copy. You've got no right to get 2 copyrighted works for the price of one. The fact that you want to both own a hard copy, but read another eBook copy because of a physical limitation, is no excuse to only pay for one of them. As a practical matter, no one will know if download a copy of the book in eBook form, but it's still infringement. Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship. 
Imran Farooq Vakil
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