Copyright question about Ebooks.

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.

I generally agree with Ms. Koslyn's analysis. However, many ebooks and other electronic files often include snippets of tracking code (often in the form of invisible watermarks) which allow a copyright owner to verify the copyrights appropriate usage and distribution use on public forums such as websites. Caveat emptor.