Ordinary Times – “…This problem was explored in-depth by Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz in their book The End of Ownership. I don’t need to know how many books you have on your Kindle or iPad to tell you that you own none of them. Suppose a DMCA takedown notice is sent regarding an allegedly infringing work on a platform like Amazon, or some similar dispute over the rights to reproduce a work emerges. In that case, the work must be taken down lest the platform face liability for copyright infringement. In 2009, Amazon had to delete “purchased” copies of 1984 from Kindle users’ devices after a dispute with the rights holder…. The way to address this problem is to formalize digital ownership in our copyright laws. The creation of a “digital first-sale” right wouldn’t help those who stream or license, but it would make legally viable the option for consumers to fully purchase the right to the digital copy of a work, which they could then buy and sell just as they would in the real world. Perzanowski and Schultz suggest this, and while there is an argument to be made that this can be fixed by the courts, there’s no substitute for the certainty provided by legislation…”