Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike L
It's not the same at all.
The Net Book Agreement (NBA) forced retailers to sell at a particular price. It was a form of restrictive practice that was made illegal in UK, for everything except books, in the 1960s.
The retail price of ebooks is not subject to any such control. The retailer is free to discount books, or not, according to their judgement. If the price that Amazon charges for a particular Kindle version is too high, you are free to buy elsewhere. That was not the case with the NBA.
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How is it not the same? The agency agreement forces all retailers to sell any particular ebook at the retail price set by the publisher of that ebook.
In particular, retailers are
not allowed to discount the ebook at all. Any retailer not agreeing to the agency terms cannot sell ebooks from that publisher at all.