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Ask HN: What DRM Free really means?

by alanchavez on 6/15/13, 10:12 PM with 8 comments

I've bought several e-books online, and O'Reilly for example claims that my e-books are 100% mine.

Here's my source:

http://shop.oreilly.com/category/ebooks.do

"They're Your Books

Unlike most other retailers, ebooks from shop.oreilly.com are not restricted. You can freely loan, re-sell or donate them, read them without being tracked, or move them to a new device without re-purchasing all of them."

So does that mean that I can share my e-books on my website for free? or will I be breaking the law?

I know that I should ask a lawyer, but I don't know any lawyer specialized in intellectual property and Digital Rights Management.

I also sent an e-mail to O'Reilly, no response.

  • by martin-adams on 6/15/13, 10:21 PM

    Their site says the following:

    ---

    They're Your Books. Unlike most other retailers, ebooks from shop.oreilly.com are not restricted. You can freely loan, re-sell or donate them, read them without being tracked, or move them to a new device without re-purchasing all of them.

    ---

    Source: http://shop.oreilly.com/category/ebooks.do

    The following link might provide more clarity: http://support.oreilly.com/oreilly/topics/e_books_and_site_l...

    It appears that when you purchase a DRM free book, you are purchasing a single entity. Therefore you can only loan, resell or donate it once. It doesn't give you distribution rights, just the rights to loan, resell or donate your since license.