Answers.Body: <blockquote>
    <p>…is there a resource that describes typical rights?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Yep, it's called *<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright" rel="nofollow">“copyright”</a> law. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3aCopyright_law_by_country" rel="nofollow">Every country has one</a>, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States" rel="nofollow">United States</a>.</p>
  
  <p>That law draws the framework of "typical" rights and obligations for all parties involved. Yet, most of the time, that's not where it stops since authors and publishers will protect some of their rights based on those intellectual property rights. In the end, readers like us tend to end up reading publisher licenses, DRM specifics, and agreements that are sometimes different from sales-point to sales-point, depending on the publisher and/or distributor.</p>
  
  <p>Related to your 4 questions, I can only state what most of us will have to state: <strong><em>I am not a lawyer!</em></strong> So, to keep us both legally safe, I will refrain from answering those. Especially, since the answers to those question may very well be totally different, depending on the books you are talking about, who published them, and under what (legal) conditions you have rented, bought, and/or licensed the individual books.</p>
  
  <p>In case of doubt, ask the people at the <em>point-of-sale</em> about your rights and obligations. Most of the time, you'll notice they're rather open when answering such questions. But if that doesn't satisfy you and you really want to know specific details for sure, you should get legal advise from a professional… a laywer.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-12-22T05:29:20.110Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2013-12-22T05:36:24.373Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2013-12-22T05:36:24.373Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: e-sushi
Answers.Body: <p>eBooks are not protected by the DMCA. All eBooks are protected by copyright law; eBooks with copy protection (DRM) are in addition copied by the DMCA. eBooks usually come with a license that will often allow you to do things that go beyond copyright law; copy protection may prevent you from doing things that either copyright law or license would allow to do you and obviously may prevent you from making illegal copies. DMCA makes it illegal to get around copy protection, no matter whether the copy would otherwise be legal or illegal. </p>
  
  <p>Without any license: Copyright law doesn't allow you to make any copies. Usually there is a license which allows you to make certain copies. </p>
  
  <p>With a license: You are allowed to do what the license says, and that's different from license to license. Usually a license will allow you to copy onto some number of devices and possibly only certain devices that you own and control for non-commercial use. If copy protection prevents a copy, then DMCA makes it illegal to get around this. </p>
  
  <p>Members of your household may use devices that you own or not. A license that allows to make copies for members of your household is unusual. </p>
  
  <p>When you die... Depends on the license. But really, this is not tested in any court as far as I know, and nobody really knows. I don't think inheritance is legally the same as receiving a present or purchasing, so it could be that the heir just inherits the role of the deceased. Unfortunately, I suspect that my heirs wouldn't be that much interested in the eBooks that I own :-(</p>
  
  <p>By the way, I doubt that your nationality makes any difference. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-03-10T15:17:26.223Z
Answers.Text: I am not sure if "copied by the DMCA" in the first sentence should not read "protected by the DMCA" (or something else).
Answers.UserDisplayName: Anthon
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-03-10T14:58:09.203Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-03-10T14:58:09.203Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: gnasher729
Answers.Body: <p>Ebooks are protected by the <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf" rel="nofollow">Digital Milenium Copyright Act</a> (DMCA), so you are only legally able to do what the DRM allows. Most of it depends upon the company who sells the ebook, and the publisher.</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>If you are allowed to sign on to multiple readers with the same account.</li>
  <li>As long as the terms of whoever the account is with allow you to share accounts.</li>
  <li>Generally, no, because it would require stripping DRM.</li>
  <li>It depends on the company -- Amazon, for example, only allows nontransferable accounts.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>There is one exception: if you are legally unable to read books (blind), you can remove the DRM if it prevents screen reader use.</p>
  
  <p><strong>NOTICE</strong>: I am not a DMCA expert, nor a legal consultant. I found this information through internet research, so make sure to confirm it.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-12-19T09:10:59.190Z
Answers.Text: The most common form of DRM in the eBook world is Adobe. While using Adobe DRM, you should be able to view book information when you have downloaded the eBook into your library. This will tell you how many pages you can Print, Copy, and when the counter will get reset. These values are set by the publisher. Many publisher are happy to allow 10% of their eBook printed per week.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Phillip Morton
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-12-20T23:25:20.090Z
Answers.Text: @Ian - can you (or someone else) please provide links to relevant sources? I think that would be enough for a complete answer. Would be nice if there were links to DMCA and the policies of major ebook sellers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, etc.)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Joe Golton
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-12-24T14:41:15.053Z
Answers.Text: I think you are missing the licence that the Ebook was released under. DMCA still protects Ebooks released with out DRM.  It is also possible that the DRM will allow actions that are prohibited by the Licence.  This is still prohibited even though the DRM allows it.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Chad
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-12-18T23:59:31.963Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-04-25T10:17:27.307Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2014-04-25T10:17:27.307Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ian
Body: <p>Is there a government or industry site or document that specifies eBook rights? Examples of what I'd like to know include:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Can I duplicate the book onto multiple devices I own?</li>
  <li>Can I duplicate the book onto devices of other members of my
  household?</li>
  <li>Can I copy the book from one format into another format on devices I own?</li>
  <li>If I die, are my inheritors legally entitled to receive my
  eBooks?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>If each publisher sets its own rules, is there a resource that describes typical rights?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-12-18T23:29:52.243Z
Comments.Text: Which government? Each country has different laws.
Comments.UserDisplayName: svick
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-12-18T23:32:34.833Z
Comments.Text: @svick I changed my question to USA incorporate your comment. Might be reasonable for this same question to be repeated for many different countries.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Joe Golton
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-12-22T06:13:35.580Z
Comments.Text: I strongly believe that questions about the law are a very bad idea on any Stack Exchange site, and I have added an answer about that to this question:  http://meta.ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/2/what-issues-are-candidates-for-off-topic-reasons-for-the-site on meta.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Donald.McLean
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-12-24T14:43:40.707Z
Comments.Text: I do not have a problem with the legal aspect of this but there are literally volumes written on this subject I think this question is too broad.  To answer any one of the 4 questions we need to know what licence the ebook was released under, and the TOS of the purchasing location.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Chad
Tags: <drm><united-states>
Title: What rights do I have to eBooks I purchase in the U.S.A. as a U.S. citizen?
UserDisplayName: Joe Golton
ThreadText: # What rights do I have to eBooks I purchase in the U.S.A. as a U.S. citizen?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2013-12-18)
  
  Is there a government or industry site or document that specifies eBook rights? Examples of what I'd like to know include:
  
  * Can I duplicate the book onto multiple devices I own?
  * Can I duplicate the book onto devices of other members of my
    household?
  * Can I copy the book from one format into another format on devices I own?
  * If I die, are my inheritors legally entitled to receive my
    eBooks?
  
  If each publisher sets its own rules, is there a resource that describes typical rights?
  
  **Tags:** drm, united-states
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Which government? Each country has different laws.  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 I changed my question to USA incorporate your comment. Might be reasonable for this same question to be repeated for many different countries.  
  > **username_2**: I strongly believe that questions about the law are a very bad idea on any Stack Exchange site, and I have added an answer about that to this question:  http://meta.ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/2/what-issues-are-candidates-for-off-topic-reasons-for-the-site on meta.  
  > **username_3**: I do not have a problem with the legal aspect of this but there are literally volumes written on this subject I think this question is too broad.  To answer any one of the 4 questions we need to know what licence the ebook was released under, and the TOS of the purchasing location.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2013-12-18. Score: 11 | Accepted answer
  
  Ebooks are protected by the [Digital Milenium Copyright Act](http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf) (DMCA), so you are only legally able to do what the DRM allows. Most of it depends upon the company who sells the ebook, and the publisher.
  
  1. If you are allowed to sign on to multiple readers with the same account.
  2. As long as the terms of whoever the account is with allow you to share accounts.
  3. Generally, no, because it would require stripping DRM.
  4. It depends on the company -- Amazon, for example, only allows nontransferable accounts.
  
  There is one exception: if you are legally unable to read books (blind), you can remove the DRM if it prevents screen reader use.
  
  **NOTICE**: I am not a DMCA expert, nor a legal consultant. I found this information through internet research, so make sure to confirm it.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_8**: The most common form of DRM in the eBook world is Adobe. While using Adobe DRM, you should be able to view book information when you have downloaded the eBook into your library. This will tell you how many pages you can Print, Copy, and when the counter will get reset. These values are set by the publisher. Many publisher are happy to allow 10% of their eBook printed per week.  
  > **username_0**: @username_7 - can you (or someone else) please provide links to relevant sources? I think that would be enough for a complete answer. Would be nice if there were links to DMCA and the policies of major ebook sellers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, etc.)  
  > **username_3**: I think you are missing the licence that the Ebook was released under. DMCA still protects Ebooks released with out DRM.  It is also possible that the DRM will allow actions that are prohibited by the Licence.  This is still prohibited even though the DRM allows it.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2013-12-22. Score: 4
  
  > …is there a resource that describes typical rights?
  
  Yep, it's called \*[“copyright”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright) law. [Every country has one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3aCopyright_law_by_country), including the [United States](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States).
  
  That law draws the framework of "typical" rights and obligations for all parties involved. Yet, most of the time, that's not where it stops since authors and publishers will protect some of their rights based on those intellectual property rights. In the end, readers like us tend to end up reading publisher licenses, DRM specifics, and agreements that are sometimes different from sales-point to sales-point, depending on the publisher and/or distributor.
  
  Related to your 4 questions, I can only state what most of us will have to state: ***I am not a lawyer!*** So, to keep us both legally safe, I will refrain from answering those. Especially, since the answers to those question may very well be totally different, depending on the books you are talking about, who published them, and under what (legal) conditions you have rented, bought, and/or licensed the individual books.
  
  In case of doubt, ask the people at the *point-of-sale* about your rights and obligations. Most of the time, you'll notice they're rather open when answering such questions. But if that doesn't satisfy you and you really want to know specific details for sure, you should get legal advise from a professional… a laywer.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2014-03-10. Score: 1
  
  eBooks are not protected by the DMCA. All eBooks are protected by copyright law; eBooks with copy protection (DRM) are in addition copied by the DMCA. eBooks usually come with a license that will often allow you to do things that go beyond copyright law; copy protection may prevent you from doing things that either copyright law or license would allow to do you and obviously may prevent you from making illegal copies. DMCA makes it illegal to get around copy protection, no matter whether the copy would otherwise be legal or illegal.
  
  Without any license: Copyright law doesn't allow you to make any copies. Usually there is a license which allows you to make certain copies.
  
  With a license: You are allowed to do what the license says, and that's different from license to license. Usually a license will allow you to copy onto some number of devices and possibly only certain devices that you own and control for non-commercial use. If copy protection prevents a copy, then DMCA makes it illegal to get around this.
  
  Members of your household may use devices that you own or not. A license that allows to make copies for members of your household is unusual.
  
  When you die... Depends on the license. But really, this is not tested in any court as far as I know, and nobody really knows. I don't think inheritance is legally the same as receiving a present or purchasing, so it could be that the heir just inherits the role of the deceased. Unfortunately, I suspect that my heirs wouldn't be that much interested in the eBooks that I own :-(
  
  By the way, I doubt that your nationality makes any difference.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_6**: I am not sure if "copied by the DMCA" in the first sentence should not read "protected by the DMCA" (or something else).  
  
  ---
  
  