Comments on: Supreme Court sides with bookseller in major copyright ruling, says resale is ok

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:02:21 +0000

Read the case law here. The publisher was legally publishing this book in a foreign country. Therefore we assume the publisher was paying the paper costs, printing costs, copyrights, etc. and selling the book for a lot less in that foreign country. So either the publisher is gouging the American public or the American public is subsidizing the foreign market. Either way it is a lot less fair to the American public than it is to poor ole John Wiley and sons. I have no sympathy and your attempt to generate sympathy is lost on me.

By: Vandy L Parks

Vandy L Parks — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:26:49 +0000

Most publisher have worked around the used text book market. A Good Example, they leave out a chapter or two out of the book and then you must buy a code to gain access to those chapters online. The books then become worthless to resellers, unless they are unused and the code would be valid. Having been a used bookseller for years now, I have made this mistake a couple times — buying used textbooks where the code for the online chapters have already been used. Publishers can cry foul play, but they are smart enough to work around it.

By: BobG

BobG — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 04:16:14 +0000

It’s another blow against publishers, who have a hard enough time making a profit. Students (and many others) seem to think that it doesn’t cost the publisher anything to produce a book. But anyone involved in publishing (including authors) knows how much time and how much money goes into producing a book. Rights for photos are sky high; permissions for reproduced text items are also sky high. Paper costs a fortune. Color printing is very expensive. You can cheer these imports all you like, but the authors are losing royalties and the publishers will lose even more of their slim profit margin. If the book is dying, it’s because of rulings like this. Eventually, publishers will be forced to sell only ebooks, and maybe not those for very long.

By: stubbs

stubbs — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:40:33 +0000

I wonder if this will result in more defamation, slander, etc., lawsuits after books are sold in countries where the publisher never intended them to be resold.

By: Dennis J. Tuchler

Dennis J. Tuchler — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:11:17 +0000

Will this spill over to the world of agricultural and other gene patents

By: Foo

Foo — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:18:57 +0000

“Wiley CEO Stephen Smith expressed disappointment with the ruling, saying in a statement: ‘It is a loss for *our ability to gouge* students and authors in the U.S. and around the world.’”

FTFY

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:36:35 +0000

Who is the loser in this ruling? I think it could be students in developing countries. Not sure, but I think the reason the student could buy books at a low price and sell them at a high price is because publishers offer low cost editions at low prices in developing countries . I expect their profit margin in such places is lower. With this ruling, might they decide not to publish those low priced editions/low cost editions?

What are those students then supposed to do? If the products are priced the same around the world there is no business model that this student saw available to him. But if a universal price is targeted for us in Europe and in the Americas, I worry about what will happen to students in poorer countries.

By: cas127

cas127 — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:06:25 +0000

The unspoken aspect of this case is the fact that the publishers/creators/etc. who are fighting against importation, are mainly concerned because they engage in heavy price discrimination around the world.

Imagine a textbook selling for $100 in the US…but $10 in India (because that is all the Indian market will support).

A used Indian textbook (identical in everything but price) costing $5 could be imported into the US – and compete against that $100 travesty.

*That* is the arbitrage the publishers were fighting against.

Imagine this applied to Big Pharma…(obviously used drugs – ewww – aren’t possible *but* identical drugs *are* sold for hugely different prices around the world…)

By: Madlyb

Madlyb — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:38:40 +0000

Yay, one of the very few wins for owner rights in a long time. How about a few more?

By: DanoX

DanoX — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:58:50 +0000

Good, if you buy books, records, dvd’s etc… you should be able to resale them. In short a used market should be allowed to exist.