The court ruled: the removal of DRM-protection is not a violation of copyright

Denise Cote, the federal judge of New York, ruled on the case where the two publishing companies were the plaintiffs and the seller, Abbey House Media, was the defendant that spreading information about the possibilities of removing DRM protection from electronic books is not a copyright violation. This is reported by EFF .



Such a lawsuit was filed after the seller, closing his online store, warned buyers that they would not be able to further adjust the DRM protection of the sold books to new devices for reading. And in this regard, I advised to use the program to remove the protection Caliber.



“How to get access to downloaded books when changing the device for reading: it is possible to remove DRM protection from books, after which you can freely copy your books from the device to the device without having to download them again. On the Internet you can find many instructions for removing the protection. [...] For example, many of our clients use Caliber. [...] People prove that it is legal as long as you use your books on your own and do not pirate them. We were informed that this is in the spirit of licenses for e-books and is a common practice. ”



Book publishers were outraged by such concern for customers and, naturally, screamed about copyright infringement and shameful piracy. However, the judge decided otherwise: “Indeed, Abbey House encouraged buyers to remove copy protection. But the fact is that a violation of copyright protection is not a violation. Copyright only for copying and distribution of books with protection removed violates copyright. The plaintiffs did not prove that Abbey House called on buyers for such actions. ”

')

Copiers are constantly trying to take away as many rights as possible from people. For example, in 2013, the Redigi service was banned , which allowed reselling tracks purchased on iTunes. Obviously, the issue of copyright and the concept of ownership in the digital world requires a cardinal revision, so long as large corporations can make super-profits, exploiting old notions, we do not see a bright digital future.