Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
Journal Title
Houston Business and Tax Law Journal
ISSN
1543-2602
Abstract
This article will first discuss the background and history of digital assets, the question of inheritability, and the inherent problems with the iTunes user agreement. Next, this article poses an argument that the iTunes user agreement is an adhesion contract leaving the consumer no choice but to accept, and further that the agreement leads to an unconscionable result that robs people of property rights that they likely (and reasonably) believed they had. Then it will discuss the First Sale Doctrine's applicability to assets generally and how federal copyright law needs to be amended and expanded so that the First Sale Doctrine also encompasses digital assets. Finally, this article includes a proposal for a federal solution to the problem of digital assets, and urges each state to adopt the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act as a progressive step towards modernizing our antiquated laws on this subject.
First Page
208
Last Page
231
Num Pages
24
Issue Number
2
Publisher
University of Houston Law Center
Recommended Citation
Anthony C. Eichler,
“Owning” What You “buy”: How iTunes Uses Federal Copyright Law to Limit Inheritability of Content, and the Need to Expand the First Sale Doctrine to Include Digital Assets,
16
Hous. Bus. & Tax L.J
208
(2016).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/student-scholarship/21