Yesterday Kobo announced that they will soon allow ebooks as gifts and today Amazon beat them to it by rolling out Kindle book gifts. However, from
Kindle Support
Quote:
Eligibility to Redeem a Kindle Book Gift
Kindle book gift notifications can be sent to any e-mail address. If the giver and the recipient do not live in the same country, the book may not available to the recipient due to copyright restrictions. In these cases the recipient will be given the option to request an exchange for gift credit on their Amazon.com account during the redemption process, or they may contact Customer Service for assistance in exchanging the book.
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How can geographic restrictions apply to both the giver and the receiver of the gift? My initial thought was that perhaps this isn't a gift at all, but rather a gift card in disguise (i.e. the gift is money rather than an ebook). However, US ebooks from Agency publishers are charged sales tax in the purchaser's state. So I bought a Kindle Agency book as a gift and sure enough I was charged sales tax. At this point I can't see how anyone can argue that I have not in fact bought the ebook legally in the US. So why can't someone from outside the US download my copy of this ebook as a gift? I did not test this, but I'm sure if the receiver isn't eligible to download the ebook the credit they get instead won't include the state sales tax.
In my view, Amazon is trying to placate publisher's with unnecessary geographic restrictions. This cries out for a law suit. In fact, the best suit would be against Amazon and an Agency Publisher. If I get charged sales tax by the publisher, they have sold me the ebook as a gift and they should deliver it to any one I choose.