Do you actually 'buy' digital content on Amazon or iTunes?

The L.A. Times reports:

Buy an e-book on Amazon or an album on Apple's iTunes and you own it, right?

Maybe not as much as you think.

It's all about what the tech industry calls digital rights management, and the bottom line for consumers is that there are significant differences between owning a tangible product and owning its electronic equivalent.

A study to be released Friday by researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and UC Berkeley finds that "a sizable percentage of consumers" have no clue about what they're really purchasing when they "buy" digital content.

"They mistakenly believe they can keep those goods permanently, lend them to friends and family, give them as gifts, leave them in their wills, resell them and use them on their device of choice," it says.

In other words, they think buying something means buying something. But in the magical land of digital content, ownership is relative.

"The reality is that for many digital transactions, there are restrictions on activities you might think come with ownership," said Aaron Perzanowski, a Case Western Reserve University law professor and co-author of the study.

Just a reminder.