The library does not allow early "returns". If I check out my allowed maximum number of books (or as you correctly state, licenses) I cannot check out any more until the two-week period is up, and during that two-week period nobody else can check those books out either. Even if I checked out the book and then immediately spent the next 10 hours listening to it, the book (or license) would be out of circulation for two weeks.
I think that right there is the key. They only want one copy of that 'book' in circulation and limit the number that are out there concurrently. Their reasons for doing so are pretty clear, the less in the wild, the more chances they have of somebody buying it to bypass that queue.
Ethics are defined on an individual basis. What I may consider right (or wrong) may not exactly match up with somebody else. This is based on experience, upbringing, etc (product of your environment). To me, the publishers clearly only want one copy in circulation from that library, so I would obey that wish and say it is 'wrong' not to follow their wishes.
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