Group items tagged

Now, this took place in the European Union, not the United States (where software is still "licensed" instead of actually sold), but what it means is that people who pay a fee to have software distributed to them now have right of first sale to that license-- that is, they can redistribute it to another person, just as I can give a book I purchased to someone else.

This is great - thanks for posting.

I would say this article is focusing more on headlines and making noise than something actually about to happen. The story is about a case going to the Supreme Court where a student from Thailand was studying at Cornell University and found that his textbooks made by Wiley were substantially cheaper in his home country. He began buying books there and reselling them in the U.S. on Ebay, making over $1.2 million. Wiley accused him of copyright infringement, and the student responded this was protected under the first sale doctrine. What is at stake is how this doctrine may be redefined; what is unique is not that the goods were made in foreign country, but owned and marketed by a U.S. company who sought to restrict sales of those items in the U.S.

In France eBooks are only 1.8% of the general market, and total sales of books have actually increased by 6.5% from 2003 to 2011. Some interesting conclusions are drawn from this, namely that prices for French language books are fixed by government decree and set by publishers--not by price discounters such as Amazon, and last year the publishers lobbied to do the same for eBooks. The French government is also friendly to booksellers, offering grants and help with rent. The result is French language bookstores are doing well, while some such English language bookstore such as the 30 year old Village Voice are closing because of the competition from resellers like Amazon and eBooks. The article surmises that the French are really only delaying the inevitable, but I find it curious that nothing is really stopping them from turning entirely to eBooks now, the main factor is cost rather than convenience or access.