Books on Board UK bookstore

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by amjbrown

Bought a book as easily as ever from BoB tonight, no lying required. Gave my UK address, a UK phone number and a UK registered credit card. Angels & Demons $6.99, compared with £7.35 at Waterstones.com. Haven't dared clicked on BoB's UK store to check their price, just in case the US one stops working!

There is no problem with buying a goodly range of books from any US store - be it BoB or Fictionwise (FW) .....

However, increasingly, some publishers are adding a Geographical Restriction on their wares .....

One UK writer, Sir Terry Pratchett, is not available to be purchased from the BoB/FW from someone correctly supplying their UK address.

Having a UK outlet may not alter this restriction......The more I think about it the more I wonder if the idea is sound, especially if there is an attempt to sell at a higher price in Sterling, than the Dollar equivalent .....

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

There is no problem with buying a goodly range of books from any US store - be it BoB or Fictionwise (FW) .....

However, increasingly, some publishers are adding a Geographical Restriction on their wares .....

One UK writer, Sir Terry Pratchett, is not available to be purchased from the BoB/FW from someone correctly supplying their UK address.

Having a UK outlet may not alter this restriction......The more I think about it the more I wonder if the idea is sound, especially if there is an attempt to sell at a higher price in Sterling, than the Dollar equivalent .....

The reason however, for the "no sale if you're in the UK" restriction for Terry Pratchett's books is that FW/BoB sell the US version of the book, and there is a separate UK publisher. The UK store will, one hopes, sell the UK version of it to UK customers.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The reason however, for the "no sale if you're in the UK" restriction for Terry Pratchett's books is that FW/BoB sell the US version of the book, and there is a separate UK publisher. The UK store will, one hopes, sell the UK version of it to UK customers.

of course one hopes that will be the case ....

[HarryT]

The UK version of the "Discworld" books is sold by the other UK bookstores, so there's absolutely no reason that BoB shouldn't start selling it.

[FireFeather]

Originally Posted by amjbrown

Bought a book as easily as ever from BoB tonight, no lying required. Gave my UK address, a UK phone number and a UK registered credit card. Angels & Demons $6.99, compared with £7.35 at Waterstones.com. Haven't dared clicked on BoB's UK store to check their price, just in case the US one stops working!

I don't think you'll actually be locked out of using the US site if you click the link. I've been clicking back and forth to compare prices as well and just like there's a UK link on the US site, there's a US link on the UK side.

Given it's still in testing, I would fully expect the catalog to continue to expand. I wouldn't expect a "solidified" catalog until they officially announce a release and maybe then it would continue to grow.

I like seeing the international side of things though and maybe if the UK site can get sorted out well, we can expect to see others in their native currencies.

[Rachel]

Hi

I have been able to buy one or two books from Diesel with no problems when I have found them to be geographically restricted on BoB and not available at all on FWise. It's worth a look.

[bill the smith]

The position of publishers must be that buying a book when you are in a barred jurisdiction is a breach of copyright - that is, the Intellectual Property owner of the books is entitled to put whatever conditions he likes on its sale.
This means from the publisher's POV you are a pirate, just as much as if you downloaded from rapidshare for free.
Thus everybody who knowingly buys in breach of the copyright rules is a criminal. The fact that you paid for the book is irrelevant.
The answers to this problem are a choice of 3:
One, obey the law and only have those ebooks to which you are lawfully entitled. As I live in Australia, this means almost nothing in the last 80 years or so.
Two, campaign for the iTunes model - iTunes is now the biggest music distributor on the Internet and is all paid and legal. This should only take 5 - 10 years to achieve and then we can all buy books.
Three, cheat, lie and pirate everything until the publishing industry is forced into choice Two.
The choice is up to you.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bill the smith

The position of publishers must be that buying a book when you are in a barred jurisdiction is a breach of copyright

No, it has nothing whatsoever to do with copyright. It is simply a question of the distribution contract between the publisher and the retailer. It is an issue of contract law, not copyright.

[bill the smith]

@HarryT
I disgree.
Anyway, perhaps you would care to comment on the thrust of my comment rather than worrying too much about which area of law applies ...
Are you a pirate or a saint?

[HarryT]

Personally, Bill, I have enough books to read to last me for several lifetimes, so I'm not particularly bothered about whether or not a particular retailer chooses to sell me a book or not. There are always other books to read.

[bill the smith]

@HarryT
You say the matter is governed by the law of contract between the distributor and the retailer.
In that event, none of us have a problem because a contract can only bind the parties too it and certainly purchasers are not so.
The burden of upholding the "geographical" aspects of the contract would be on the distrbutor who should have a foolproof system which cannot be circumvented.
If you are correct, then it follows that geographical restrictions do not apply to us, the consumers.

[bill the smith]

@HarryT
Could I politely point out, with great respect, that you are avoiding the question.
The issue here is not about the legal technicialities of copyright/contract but whether or not people are downloading illegally (pirating) when they buy books outside their geographical area.
What is your position on this?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bill the smith

@HarryT
You say the matter is governed by the law of contract between the distributor and the retailer.

Correct.

In that event, none of us have a problem because a contract can only bind the parties too it and certainly purchasers are not so.

Absolutely. It's a contract between the publisher and the retailer. It has nothing whatseover to do with the customer.

The burden of upholding the "geographical" aspects of the contract would be on the distrbutor who should have a foolproof system which cannot be circumvented.

Absolutely. It surely hasn't escaped your attention that retailers really don't try terribly hard to enforce geographical restrictions. The publishers insist that they make some token effort at doing so, but obviously the retailer wants to sell books to as many people as possible.

If you are correct, then it follows that geographical restrictions do not apply to us, the consumers.

If you mean that the customer isn't doing anything wrong in bypassing them, that is absolutely right.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bill the smith

@HarryT
Could I politely point out, with great respect, that you are avoiding the question.
The issue here is not about the legal technicialities of copyright/contract but whether or not people are downloading illegally (pirating) when they buy books outside their geographical area.
What is your position on this?

I've already answered you. Geographical restrictions have nothing to do with copyright law, and the customer most certainly is NOT doing anything illegal (or even immoral, IMHO) in buying a book outside their "geographical area". It certainly is not "piracy".

[bill the smith]

Thanks for your reply.
Your undoubted expertise in this area means that we can all now comfortably change our country of residence or whatever to buy books without feeling guilty (morally) or committing a crime (legally).
England 2/90 with both openers gone.