Not only the laws, but also our ideas of right and wrong vary depending on the situation. Most people would have no problem not buying a book, but getting it from a friend and reading it.
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Which is ok copyright-wise. Nobody’s making a copy. Same when you lend an e-book or a CD to someone.
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Which also applies to any download from any source … in certain countries. And also for copying a book (at the copying machine), because the author is paid if his book is copied … in certain countries. An author may see it differently because he would have earned more if the second person had bought his book regularly.
What the law says and what people feel is fair can differ considerably.
Not so fast. Downloading something you have no license to may be a copyright violation. The source is important.
More about the situation in Germany here: Das Urheberrecht und die Fallen: Downloading und Filesharing - Verbraucherportal-BW
The famous “Bibliotheksabgabe”. It’s nothing more than a compromise – libraries want their customers to be able to copy books. So they pay a fee regardless of what gets copied how often. As you said: An author may be less happy about that.
Depends on who you consider to be “people”. I believe that authors think differently about these issues than those who think that copying is ok. Having been one myself.
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As already mentioned, not in certain countries. And I never said anything about Germany.
I don’t even know what that is. I’m not talking about Germany. But apparently there are different “remuneration systems” in different countries, with the same goal. Better and worse ones. But they are always compromises, just like you say 
The thing is always worse, because when you buy a disk, you pay a tax for use with copyrighted stuff, if you buy a printer/copier, you pay for the same concept. In my concept of fair use or “legal” stuff, if I’m using a device that has paid a tax to be uses with copyrighted stuff, I feel free to make as many copies as I want. I even scan most of the physical books I buy. Of course, for personal use and not distributing them.
However, there is another thing. What happens when an editorial takes a community translated book and sells like translated by themselves? Or takes the translation of a closed editorial and publish as new? This happens very frequently in Spain.
All of this is in a very gray area, and my rules are very basic.
A lot depends on the local jurisdiction. In Germany, making copies strictly for personal use (ie not giving them to others) is allowed. EU law knows about that, but leaves it to the member states if they allow copies for personal use.
And at least in Germany, the levy on copiers etc is not a tax. It is a fee paid to the authors’ associations.
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Same in Spain. But I don’t give a f**ck where the money goes. It is a tax for using copyrighted material. You buy an ebook, and pay for the copyright, you buy a USB disk, you pay for the copyright, then you buy a second disk for security copy, and you pay for copyright. You read the ebook in a device, and you pay for copyright one more time. F*ck ya, man!! Next time we are going to pay for copyright each time you read the book, and next on each page read!!!
In my previous life, I was an author. So, my view on these issues might be a bit different. There certainly are copyright excesses.
Making people pay for devices that can be used for copying is not one, imo. Until someone comes up with a better way to pay authors for uncontrollable copying.
IIRC, you’re working in a software company. They are probably doing the same thing: Making people pay for using the product, not for owning it. And possibly limiting their right to copy the product…
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Well, I’m an author as well, without a known name but an author, and still think copy is a good thing because people that copy never will buy and with the copy, your name moves around and other people could buy your product.
In our case is different. We sell machines, and the machine is own 100% by the purchaser, including the software part. Good look to put our stuff in other devices, not because we enforce any security anti-theft, but because without the hardware the software is not usable.And we rent maintenance, but not rent-per-use.
But of course, both things are a matter of opinion and nothing is written stone.