PDF Sales?

[pawsplay]

The publishers need to come out with a new edition of the Copyright Laws of the USA, the rules are too confusing, contradictory, and spread out among numerous sourcebooks.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

The publishers need to come out with a new edition of the Copyright Laws of the USA, the rules are too confusing, contradictory, and spread out among numerous sourcebooks.

That's just an excuse for the money-grubbing lawmakers to start the copyright supplement treadmill all over again. I, for one, will never buy a new edition of copyright and intellectual property law!

 

[El Mahdi]

The publishers need to come out with a new edition of the Copyright Laws of the USA, the rules are too confusing, contradictory, and spread out among numerous sourcebooks.

Advantage: Publishers.

It's probably not in their financial interest to make them more easily understood or more fairly applied - IMO. They probably like them just the way they are, or want to make them even more strict and advantageous to themselves.

 

[jsaving]

I've been away from D&D for a while, so I'm sorry if this has been asked a ton.Is there any legal way to purchase the 4th Ed. books in an electronic format again?

When WotC ended these sales, it was described as a short-term measure, and they specifically refuted those who called it a ploy to encourage flagging DDI subs. Were the skeptics right after all? Only time will tell, but it's certainly looking that way...

 

[Voadam]

When WotC ended these sales, it was described as a short-term measure, and they specifically refuted those who called it a ploy to encourage flagging DDI subs. Were the skeptics right after all? Only time will tell, but it's certainly looking that way...

No, they did not say it was temporary, they said:

Originally Posted by Greg Leeds
We do not have any plans to resume the sale of PDFs, but are actively exploring other options for the digital distribution of our content – including older editions. We understand that digital content is important to our customers.

 

[Ainamacar]

One has to be careful about taking advice on the internet, but you bring up a very interesting concept. There's some interesting reading there (thanks for the links).

It is interesting that you can sell an used book no problem. Once you buy it, it's yours to do with as you please (except make and sell copies of it, excepting copies for personal use/fair use). So, why wouldn't it be legal to sell or give away your pdf (and delete your original copy)? I'm betting that legally, you're still making a copy of the pdf, and really have no way of proving definitively you've deleted your copy. But, it's a very thought provoking scenario.

Maybe if some kind of document format were developed where you could copy the file to a new location (different folder, thumbdrive, CD/DVD, transfer to another hard drive, etc.) but when you do it, the original file is automatically deleted. That would be interesting. Of course though, someone would eventually crack the format so it doesn't automatically delete, so...

The idea of digital personal property is under some investigation, as reported here. That said, all such schemes are artificial because digital media are fundamentally copyable (and crackable).