Look, I sympathize with people here. I hope this issue is either false, or gets fixed promptly. Issues like this are not good for anyone, consumer's or Bethesda alike, even if it does not directly affect you.
HOWEVER,
If you are NOT a member of the Press that has received a review copy, then there is NO SUCH thing as a LEGITIMATE EARLY COPY of the game. The release date is 11/11/11 ... PERIOD. I don't care if you paid for the game or not that does not wash away the fact that the law has been broken (Street Date Broken) and magically makes it legal.
Come on people.... lets at least be honest, and call a mudcrab a mudcrab here.
The reason it's "illegal" for a store to sell a copy early is because of the
contract the store signed with the distributor when buying its copies. When Joe off the street walks into a store, they have no contract signed with the distributor, hence there is no contract there for them to break.
It simply isn't against the law to buy a game early. It is against the contract the store signed, and that is a matter to settle between the store and the distributor.
You miiiight stretch and try to say that a buyer in a store, by purchasing the game early, is engaged in tortious interference with the contract between the store and distributor, but that's really a long shot at best...and hey, it's not a crime, just something the distributor is free to sue (and likely lose) over.
TL;DR: Buying a video game prior to launch from a store is the store's problem, not the buyer's.