[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Piper_

I'm not well educated on all the intricacies, so forgive me and please clarify if I have this wrong.

But my understanding is that the "point of sale" is deemed to be different for ebooks than for other things ordered online...?

So I, in the US, can order a paper book online and have it sent to me from the UK (even if the publisher only has UK rights), because the point of sale for a paper book is the store.

Something like that. We can, and do, order UK editions of things like the Harry Potter books and Tom Holt fantasies (who doesn't seem to have a US publisher these days), from Amazon UK, and have them shipped to us in the US. It's quite legal because the point of sale is the UK. I'm buying a UK published book in the UK, and the seller has the right to sell it to me.

I can't buy those UK editions from Amazon US. They don't have the right to make that sale.

But the point of sale for ebooks is my computer's location, so I can't order the e-version to be sent to me.

Unless you use something like a proxy server to disguise your location.

If so, it seems a little arbitrary, and maybe fixing that would be all that's necessary.

It is a little arbitrary. The law often is.

Who would be responsible for this determination?

ETA: I stalled around and didn't refresh before posting, so I just saw the "apply home state regulation to the sale of digital goods as well." comments in the last 3 posts. I guess this is it, then.

So I guess my only question now is who and why that was decided. At least I'll know who to whom I should direct my complaints.

Start with your local congress critters.

The fundamental problem is that publishers have historically contracted for rights by territory. They license the right to publish the book and sell it in a particular geographical area.

And publishers historically have not sold direct to consumers. They sell to distributors, who sell to retailers, who sell the books to you.

So to take a mentioned example, Scholastic is the US publisher for Harry Potter. Bloomsbury is the UK publisher. Scholastic has the US rights to the book, and wants me to buy their edition. It's why they acquired US rights: they thought it was something they could sell. So if I want the UK edition published by Bloomsbury, I have to buy it from a UK retailer and have it shipped overseas. Same thing if I'm in the UK and want the US edition. The sale has to take place in the territory covered by the rights.

What happens if there's an ebook? Thus far, it's a moot point, as Rowling has refused to license ebook editions. If she recants, who will issue them? Scholastic? Bloomsbury? Someone else entirely? It might just be someone else entirely, as erights aren't covered by her existing contracts, and while Scholastic and Bloomsbury will both want them, who gets them will depend on what sort of offers are tendered.

Pretending I'm an author again, let's say I place a book with a small publisher, who buys the paper rights. Let's say the book becomes popular, and there is demand for an ebook edition. Do I license worldwide ebook rights to the small publisher, or do I accept an offer from a major publisher interested in doing it? I might well go with the big guy, because I want my book to sell, and the question will be "Who can do the best job of selling it worldwide?"

On the same line, what happens if my US publisher does license worldwide ebook rights for my book? How does this affect my chances of getting it picked up by foreign publishers, who might see the ebook rights for their territory as valuable, and be less inclined to pick up my book for their market if they can't get erights too?

It's a complex topic with lots of ramifications and no simple answers. Each link in the chain is trying to make money, and has licensed or bought rights designed to help them do that. Updating existing contracts to lift geo-restrictions will be a contentious process, and someone will feel their ox is being gored and they are potentially losing money, pretty much regardless of how you do it.
______
Dennis