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What, exactly, is the law supposed to do?
It is already legally possible for the UK retailer to sell the ebook in Europe -- as long as the contracts allow it. Is the EU going to void hundreds of thousands of contracts?
And if they do, who will get the rights? If I sign a contract with different branches of Penguin in the UK, France and Germany, who gets the international English rights? Do they all get it?
What if the contracts are for the UK and the US, but nowhere else yet? Neither one has been specifically granted the international rights, and EU law won't change this.
Further, in many cases it's the retailer that's the problem. Amazon is willing to sell ebooks internationally; Waterstones and Barnes & Noble are not. Will the EU also write a law that forces retailers to sell anywhere in the EU? And then to force publishers to make their content available internationally?
I really don't see this happening. If it ever did, by the time they were actually able to pass any such laws, the availability issues will probably wind up being solved -- especially if this market is anywhere near as lucrative as some folks speculate.
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