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That is funny,  MR, RMC,

That is funny,  MR, RMC, N-Scale etc. puts my name and address on the cover and never said I was a leak for handing out the magazine that I was done with. 

So what you are saying the property that you paid for is not yours to do with when you are done.  If I want to give it as a gift to someone else I should be able to do so just like any other magazine.

Copywritten material

The conceptual equivalent is for you to give the paid edition to a friend and to delete it on your own device. Fine, knock yourself out, no problem here.

Make copies for all your devices -- again fine, knock yourself out.

But if you give a copy away and you don't delete it on your device(s), the digital equivalent of what you're doing is making photocopies of our copywritten publication and giving it away free. Any court in the land will convict you as breaking the law in this case.

I'm sorry, Az, you can't explain away illegal activity with spin doctoring ...

Not funny at all -- if you made photocopies of these magazines and gave them away to friends -- you are breaking the law even though you "own" the magazine as you say. Illegal is illegal, you don't OWN the copyright -- you CANNOT COPY it and give the copies away.

Give away the original, that's fine -- and with digital editions, than means you DELETE your digital copy.

I just traded (About 8 months

I just traded (About 8 months ago) someone for a bunch of his old Train DVDs and VCR tapes with some of mine.  so now that we traded them it is illegal?  Then about a month ago I gave most of them to some kid.  I kept the ones I liked and gave away the rest.  I'm a major criminal now. 

I hope the law does not come after me for the 80's mix tape I record off the radio in 1984.  

I like to give away things when I'm done with them it avoids clutter.

No problem

No problem. Give your friend a copy of our paid digital magazine and DELETE IT from your devices. That's just fine and is the digital equivalent of what you're doing with these DVDs and VCR tapes. Giving away the originals is totally legal.

The problem is giving away a copy and KEEPING YOUR original copy. If you copied these DVDs and VCR tapes and gave away the copies to friends -- that is as illegal as can be. People may do it, but it's illegal to give copies of copywritten material to friends and keep the original. That violates copyright law.

It’s not MRH, it’s the law

Many thanks for the quick reply Joe. I think your approach strikes a perfect balance, protecting your IP without being overly heavy handed or proprietary. I was planning to add that I wish other model railroad industry publishers were that reasonable (lookin’ at you, RMC), but then the other comments went ahead and made the case for onerous controls and limitations. I’m confident, though, that the vast majority of us will respect and appreciate what you’re doing so it’ll be viable for a long time to come.

Folks, the rights management approach Joe is taking actually gives us a generous amount of personal use latitude and convenience compared to the e-versions of other industry magazines. As a community of people who are all about creating, I would expect that none of us would chafe at being prohibited by law from making illegal copies of other people’s copyrighted work...right? For those who need a self-interest perspective to do the right thing (hey, it takes all kinds), consider the fact that abusing this would be shooting ourselves in the foot: it’ll either kill the product outright, or it’ll force Joe to impose a bunch of *real* restrictions like login requirements and/or having to use a proprietary app, etc.—and nobody wants that.

Here’s to the success of MRH premium!

The Journal from the Layout

The Journal from the Layout Design Sig is imprinted this way. Works fine. GS