Amazon Might Start Selling Used E-Books

Amazon was awarded a patent for a system to sell previously owned digital objects like e-books and audio downloads, reports Publisher's Weekly.

Amazon already has a long-standing secondhand market for physical books, so despite the weird concept of "owning" someone's used ones and zeroes, this is actually quite possible with Amazon's DRM.

Users could potentially "sell back" their content at a small loss while DRM ensures they can't access it again. Other customers could then buy the previously-owned object with the digital rights being easily transferred to them.

One big question we have – since e-books don't wear out or age, would Amazon sell a used e-book for the same price?

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.