iTunes Auction Treads Murky Legal Ground
Alorie Gilbert,
CNet News.com,
Sept 04, 2003
Some tough questions are being raised by George Hotelling, who is selling a song purchased through the Apple iTunes service in an auction on eBay. The question is: does Hotelling have the right to resell something he has bought and paid for? It is a right that people have had historically for all manner of products, including the right to sell used cars, used homes, used books and used CDs. But what if the asset is digital? Vendors today simply assume that the rules of commerce are now going to change. But it will take more than a shrink-wrap license to change principles of ownership that have endured for 3000 years or more. And as much as the auction may offend content publishers, it resonates with consumers, who pushed the 99 cent song up to $15,000 in bidding as of Wednesday. It resonates because it appeals to basic principles of ownership and control: if someone buys a coffee for a dollar, they don't want to sign a contract, they don't want an ongoing "relationship" with the vendor, they don't want "terms of use" and they don't want to be prohibited from giving it - or selling it - to their friends. And the same goes for content. That content vendors - and DRM authors - cannot understand this basic principle is beyond me.
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