Four textbook sellers busted for selling international editions
Four big online booksellers, threatened with lawsuits from textbook publishers, agreed to quit selling international editions on eBay, Amazon, ABEbooks and Half.com.The sellers -- Walbooks, 123textbooks.com, Low Price, Reliable Book Service, and Ram Kishore, were accused of unauthorized importation, promotion and sale of non-U.S. versions of textbooks from Pearson Eduction, John Wiley & Sons, and Cengage Learning.
The sellers also agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to the publishers and forfeit books they had in inventory.
According to the publishers, the sellers misled their U.S. buyers by obscuring the text, title and copyright information showing that the books weren't authorized for sale in the U.S. Also, the sellers "falsely advertised" the international editions by using pictures and ISBNs of the U.S. textbooks, the publishers said.
"This settlement essentially shuts down a number of organizations involved in the unauthorized importation and sale of textbooks in the United States," said Georges Nahitchevansky, a lawyer for the publishers. "The pursuit of these organizations should serve as fair warning to others that publishers will pursue legal action against those who engage in unlawful reproduction and sale of their intellectual property."
Amazon, eBay and Half.com prohibit international editions but ABE encourages their sale.
Labels: college textbooks
posted by Steve Weber at 10/25/2007
7 Comments:
This raises the question on what to do about *used* international versions. I doubt that a small bookseller would be sued.... Why are international versions so cheap and why do publishers print them?
They may be busted, but the publishers should be the embarrassed party. Why are students here subsidizing cheaper copies of the exact sames texts abroad? Really, the publishers are charging exactly what the market will bear and screwing everyone.
As a parent of a college student. If I could get my hands on an international edition for her I would. The cost of books, the university process for buying them,the blatant attempts at making it as difficult as possible to identify the books and purchase a cheaper copy online are infuriating. I was actually told by a clerk at the student book store that they do not give out isbns because 'it would be like stealing from the bookstore' Huh?? And this from a State University funded by tax $$s.
Obviously a sore point for me :)
I think they should have fought harder to get the right to purchase them and sell them. If they were trying to hide that it was an International version it was probably to get past the big sites who have deals with the publishers not the buyer themselves.
I think it's a sad outcome. What those sellers were doing (creatively buying cheap and selling high) is perfectly legal, but they had to cave because they couldn't afford to defend themselves.
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/headlines/content/1998040801.html
Note that the Supreme Court decision was unanimous.
Big money got what it wanted by squeezing out the little guys.
The way I read that page on the Supreme Court decision, what happened in the case at the top of this page was perfectly in line with that decision. It seems the books were produced outside of the United States, hence the reason for using the wrong ISBNs and such. If the books had been originally made in this country, exported, then re-imported, that would be another matter.
I appreciate what you're saying, but the Pearson, Wiley, and Cengage books are produced in the United States specifically for export to other nations.
These copies are then legally imported back into the United States and sold by sellers who see an opportunity for a creative profit.
But the particular chain of events is not really the issue.
The issue is the First Sale Doctrine. If it's legal for a U. S. seller to purchase (from whatever source) and own an item, then it's legal to sell that item. (Read the full Supreme Court decision for more info.)
Misleading buyers is definitely a serious issue, and I hope that I don't underestimate that aspect of this case, but bypassing the wishes of publishers regarding the end destination and final price of their publications is definitely a legal business opportunity. (The only way that publishers can get around the First Sale Doctrine is by creating mutual agreement contracts with specific sellers; this is something that I'll probably never be open to on my end.)
"ABE encourages their sale" because, as with proofs and reading copies, resale of legally owned international textbooks is legal according to the First Sale Doctrine.
See U. S. Copyright Law, Title 17, Section 109. This is the First Sale Doctrine. When the publisher sells (or gives away) an item, the privilege of control passes to the buyer (or recipient). (Legal cases have established the equivalence of sale and gift for this purpose.)
Whatever a bookseller legally owns, a bookseller can legally sell, but if booksellers generally become eager to give away the privilege of disposing of their own property according to their own inclinations, then we may very well lose this privilege in time.
As a very small seller who handles ARCs and international versions on a very limited and purely serendipitous basis, I believe that the consequence of pressure from the publishers may ultimately be bad for sellers, bad for buyers, and worse for landfills. (Waste is a always regrettable, imho.)
I think the issue is they sold interantional on sites that wouldnt allow international. Notice no ABE sellers were sought after.
The sellers made an wrong decision and suffered appropiately.
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