Quote:
Originally Posted by MrPLD
It'd be good to get a -real- explanation of why some publishers refuse to sell outside of certain borders.
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A combination of two factors:
1. Contracts between publishers and authors are often restricted to certain countries. Something like: publisher A can sell in America, publisher E can shell in Europe.
2. For digital downloadable content (ebooks), it is considered that the act of sell/purchase occurs not where the seller is located, but where the purchaser is located. I'm not sure which particular law/treaty/convention says this, though.
The real issue then comes when publisher A offers an ebook, and publisher E doesn't. With paper books that's not a problem, because you could always buy from an online bookstore in America, and have the book sent to you by mail. But according to the 2nd factor, you can't do that with ebooks, you have to actually travel to America for that.
People complaining about geographic restrictions often blame everything on the 1st factor, and want the contracts to be renegociated and global distribution rights being acquired by the publishers... I believe it would be easier and more logical to abolish the 2nd factor instead, which just doesn't make sense.