Important Supreme Court Case on Monday

by Hortensia 28 Replies latest social entertainment

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  Hortensia

  Band on the Run, you bring up another related problem: digital ownership. When you pay for and download a piece of music or a video, you're paying for a license -- not for ownership. If you buy a cd or dvd, you own the plastic. But they don't want you to resell or give away that piece of plastic without giving the original producers yet another cut of the money.

  And, if you take a cd you bought and paid for to your place of business so you can listen to it while working, there's another organization that will come along and demand you pay royalties each year for listening to it at work. I know - I paid those damn royalties every year when I owned a coffee bar, even though I was playing cds I owned and had already paid for.
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  smiddy

  I`m just wondering how this would affect opportunity shops (op shops ) that are run by various organizations to generate funds to keep viable .E.G.church groups ,senior citizens , animal aid ,etc.etc. Apart from clothing and other nick/nacks, used books are a big part of their turnover .Would this have implications in other countries such as Australia ?

  smiddy
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  Hortensia

  This is just an issue here in the U.S., I think. At least, it's the US supreme court hearing the appeal.

  I just checked, in spite of the storm, the Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on Monday and this case is second on the docket.

  http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/11-697 a discussion of the issues

  I hope I'm not boring you all with this, it's interesting to me.
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  Hortensia

  Well the supreme court heard the arguments today, and an answer is expected by June. WTF? why so long

  Oh well, that's the way it goes
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  kurtbethel

  At issue is whether you own the stuff you buy. The book publishers want to prevent resales, because they "lose" money they think they could grab if reselling is forbidden. A textbook publisher I write for usually pays me for my writing but also sends me a case of the books when published, each book marked in large letters "not for resale!" What the hell am I supposed to do with an entire case of books I don't need and can't sell? It seems to me that if I give them away, the publishing company loses out anyway, because that's a few more people not buying their book.

  Here is something you can do.

  You give those books away.

  Yes, the book is a free gift, given to the purchaser of a super nifty bookmark that is priced at what you would have sold the book for if you were not giving it away.
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  Hortensia

  Brilliant!!!
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  panhandlegirl

  Hortensia said:I hope I'm not boring you all with this, it's interesting to me.

  Absolutly an important subject. The price of textbooks is outrageous and I believe, after we pay the purchase price for one, we should be able to do with our purchase as we want, with the exception of making other copies for sale. Students need all the breaks they can get in order to afford school. I also buy old books from independent book sellers, most in perfect condition, and would hate to lose that privilage.

  PHG
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  jamesmahon

  It is certainly not an issue in the EU. Levi jeans tried to stop a supermarket chain selling 501s at £20 over a decade ago. The EU courts decided that whilst a seller of an item is under no obligation to sell to another individual or company, once they had completed a sale the purchaser of an item had the right to dispose of it any way they saw fit. Seems perfectly sensible to me. I suspect the US courts will decide the same.
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  hamsterbait

  This could set a dangerous precedent for other types of property.

  You buy a Ford, but then Ford says you cannot sell it after three years, because they own the rights of sale. Obviously car companies dont want to lose sales of new cars because people are buying second hand models.

  It is ridiculous. However the justice system is crazy - people who DID NOT commit a crime because of plea bargaining rules have to plead guilty to it, a drunken man shoots himself and the wife successfully sues the gun manufacturer because their gun was not designed to prevent drunk men from firing it, the young criminal who threw a brick at a plate glass window sued successfully for compensation because the glass should have shattered as he expected, instead of bouncing the brick back and injuring him.

  if I dont own a DVD I have paid for, why shouldnt I just accept a pirate copy that nobody owns?

  HB
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  Scott77

  I think, this is a good thread. I have purchased some book, dubbed 'international versions'. They are ways cheaper.

  Scott77