"When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this."
I completely agree, the 'old' model doesn't apply 100% but I don't think that publishers are trying for a new model that's fair. I can give thousands copies for free, yes... But they can SELL thousands at almost no cost. So the whole "You can't just GIVE it away" argument gets significantly weaker.
I think, however, that the end result will be to ignore the pirates. It makes the most sense. People will always want to get their book "NOW", at launch, from the store, not from hunting around for it.