First Sale Doctrine Digital
The cluster discusses whether the First Sale Doctrine applies to digital goods like software, movies, and games, debating ownership versus licensing and the inability to resell digital purchases due to EULAs and TOS.
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You’re describing the first sale doctrine. Unfortunately, it doesn’t apply to digital licenses; at least not today.
No. First Sale Doctrine:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
He can, he just can't make copies of them. It's like selling an used book.In the US, it's called the First-sale doctrine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
The right sale doctrine doesn’t apply to products like these; these are licenses to use. If they were first sale doctrine products, you could sell your goods on secondary markets, which you cannot.
Wouldn't the first sale doctrine override such terms in most cases?
You can disagree with me, but the legal aspect is still the same. You owned the physical delivery mechanism, and the single use license that delivery mechanism represented. Sure, you could sell that, but the point is still the same in that you never owned the content, legally speaking.
digital ownership is the wrong way to put that. This is digital leasing/licensing. The real crime is the false advertising where they say you are buying a copy of something, or even the licensing rights to view it. You are really buying the licensing rights to view it on their platform if they feel like it.
Many don't realize that when you buy anything digital, you don't "own" it—what you actually buy is a license to access the content, which can be revoked at any time and for any reason. When that happens, you can't really sue them because there must be a clause in the ToS, that you've agreed on, that covers it. For most media, the only way to "own" it digitally is, unfortunately, by piracy.
Well, there's one thing that could show the difference. If it's a true "purchase" then the first-sale doctrine, [1], should hold, which limits the rights of the copyright owner.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
All these "stores" have the same wording in their TOS: "this content is licensed, not sold", et c. They all use the terms "buy", "sale", "purchases", "owned", and other similar words in the UI. There's a clear contradiction here, and they shouldn't get it both ways.It's very obvious (to those who know how FAANG walled gardens work) that it's a rental and contingent upon them not evaporating your account for some