eBay To Pilot for Digital Downloads

(via AuctionBytes Via Techdirt): eBay is jumping into the music download market, using its auctions base, though with some trepidation because of copyright ownership issues.

During the 180-day pilot, only pre-approved sellers will be able to sell songs. These sellers have proved to eBay that they are the rights owner or have contractual permission from the rights owner to resell the listed media.
Interestingly, downloads bought through eBay will take place in the secure environment of the seller (Is eBay trying to skirt the legal problems with this?). During the checkout process, the buyer may be redirected to a separate, branded and secure site to complete the transaction and to download the purchased music.

It would be interesting to see the legal implications of all this…theoretically, eBay could set up a resale market for digital music, using the first sale doctrine, as Derek Slater of CMusings explained it to me in an e-mail. The problem is, the first sale doctrine, as written, does not translate well to the digital world.

You can get more details on how the first sale doctrine translates in the digital world through this PDF report by the Berkman Center at Harvard…the report is about iTunes and the legal system, but has some very interesting details on the doctrine starting page 50 onwards…

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