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You don't actually "purchase" physical media. It's still licensed. The question for digital purchases is how perpetual the license is. This is different from Spotify and Netflix where you clearly are renting it, and there's no confusion over that.


Is the purchase of physical media actually license?

Clearly there are restrictions to what you can do with it (duplication, public performance, and so forth), but those restrictions are defined by copyright law. The notable exception is software, but it could be argued that licenses were a product of the need to duplicate software (e.g. install it to a hard drive). That said, modern software licenses do go far beyond that.

Then again, I may be misinterpreting the meaning of license. I have always views them as modifications to the rights granted by copyright law.


Buying a book is just that a purchase. Copyright only applies when a copy is being made, thus no license is needed or implied. You can read it and then sell the physical book because you’re not making physical copies, but you can’t read it to a large audience because that requires a specific license.

Buying a physical CD or an action figure of some copyrighted character follows that same principle, the wishes of the original publisher becomes irrelevant until copyright applies. So you can for example take family photos of your kid holding that Barbie without issue, even make copies of it and back it up to the cloud with no problem.

TLDR; To say a license exists implies some additional privilege, but that’s simply not the case here.


Maybe you license physical media, but I don't. I purchase it and do with it as I please under the fair use laws of the United States.


Unfortunately, this is not the case with physical media that contains licensed material. IF a case were pursued, you would likely pay whatever penalty without any real contest (like 99% of criminals who attempt an insanity plea).


https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual...

>> "The first sale doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 109, provides that an individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner. The right to distribute ends, however, once the owner has sold that particular copy. See 17 U.S.C. § 109(a) & (c). Since the first sale doctrine never protects a defendant who makes unauthorized reproductions of a copyrighted work, the first sale doctrine cannot be a successful defense in cases that allege infringing reproduction."


You can do whatever you want to with physical media, license be damned. Most people won't go further than making a physical copy to load on to their NAS. This is a license violation, but there won't be any enforcement because mass distribution via torrents is a much bigger threat.


Let me know how your unlicensed movie theater goes.


There will never be enforcement because such a provision is not enforceable.


They are plainly stating that it was purchased.




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