An Update on Used Ebooks

Back in February I wrote about Amazon's interest in selling used ebooks. This topic has come up again recently: this week the German district court of Bielefeld ruled that digital books cannot be resold by purchasers. The ruling states that an ebook can only be resold with the consent of the author and publisher. We'll have to see how this decision effects sales in the US market.

Bestselling science fiction author John Scalzi blogged about the concept of re-selling ebooks. Naturally as an author, he brings an interesting perspective to the matter. What follows is a pretty lively debate in his comments section. Whatever does happen, it's a safe bet that there is going to be a great deal of litigation on this matter. I can certainly understand why authors and publishers are concerned about this. 

Should ebooks be treated like print books, able to be resold at a discount? Or is re-selling a digital file too similar to the file sharing that shook up the music industry?