Hi OZbargainers,
Can someone hep me with some legal issues.
What is the law surrounding renting e-books. Say you have access to an ebook online and you want to rent it out to others, is that legal. If not then how do companies like Chegg get away with it.
Thanks.
ahly92
Here is a link that explains the legality of selling MP3s - renting will be treated the same.
ceribik is right - when you purchase anything digital you purchase a license of use, not the work itself. This license will be for personal use only, not for commercial use. Also, the license will prohibit any monetising of the work by any means.
Companies like Amazon have bulk licenses from publishers.
If you want to rent out books, you have better chances of achieving your aim by buying a physical copy.
http://theconversation.com/selling-mp3s-you-should-have-stuc…
Lawyers can help you with legal issues. OzB can't and shouldn't
They have a written deal with the publisher to distribute or rent the books. Otherwise they get sued into oblivion
Say you have access to an ebook online and you want to rent it out to others, is that legal
No, unless you have the rights to resell/rent/distribute the book, which you probably dont have
how do companies like Chegg get away with it
They get away with it by having an agreement with the publishers, not unlike Steam, iTunes, or Netfix.
You pay Chegg money for time-limited access to an ebook; Chegg pays some of that money to the publisher; the publisher pays some of that money to the author.
wow thats fascinating
so you access the book online and after a certain amount of time you lose access?
never heard of ebook renting
most libraries have this. I know Gold Coast libraries rent out ebooks.
thanks for ur input guys!
When you purchase an eBook you almost always aren't buying it. You're just buying a license to read it. Other companies may have special licensing arrangements to allow for what they do.
This is not legal advice.