Federal judge rules that used digital items cannot be sold by consumers
Finished with that digital copy of 鈥淭he Help鈥� on your Kindle and hoping to sell it somewhere else?聽
Sorry 鈥� e-books being sold used may not be legal just yet.
ReDigi, a start-up based in Massachusetts which allows users to resell digital music on their site, was told by a federal judge that Capitol Records' rights are violated by such a practice. The company is planning to allow consumers to sell used e-books this summer. ReDigi has been in existence since 2011 and was planning an overhaul late this summer to begin emphasizing e-book content.聽
However, Judge Richard Sullivan told ReDigi that it has been violating the rights of Capitol Records by allowing digital music to be resold.
According to the law, e-books are considered an original version of the author鈥檚 work. If you鈥檝e already bought a version and then sell it to someone else, you鈥檙e making an illegal copy of the original work (the text you downloaded).
By contrast, according to the law, if you sell a used print book to your friend, you鈥檙e not making another copy of it, so you鈥檙e not going against the author鈥檚 copyright.
ReDigi says it believes that by taking a user鈥檚 copy of an e-book, putting a watermark on the file, keeping the e-books in the cloud, and selling the right to ownership of the files, it is proceeding according to the law.
According to founder John Ossenmacher, the company still plans to begin its e-book program. He told Sullivan鈥檚 decision about music applies to an earlier version of the ReDigi software and that the company now has new software that complies with the judge鈥檚 concerns. The company plans to appeal Sullivan鈥檚 decision. Capitol Records did not return CNBC鈥檚 request for comment.
According to ReDigi, the new software requires a user to give up the rights to a file when it is sold, and the program checks the seller's computer to make sure there is no hidden copy of the song or album.
In addition, a judge in Germany recently ruled that e-books could not be sold used.
Will legal used e-books ever be a reality? They could be 鈥� Amazon recently secured a patent for a 鈥渟econdary market for digital objects.鈥�
