I don't believe anyone has every tried it with books, but a know the music business made a run at used CD’s and got nowhere.
The funny part is this. I hope it does stand. I'd rather have the software companies keep “ownership” in their product - and then have to answer for it being full of bugs and mistakes!
I have a feeling that the lost revenue from resales is nothing compared to the cost of having to produce a product that actually does what they claim it will do.
Don't kid yourself, never going to happen that way. They own the software, you own the bugs.