[DMB]

Originally Posted by Sue7M3

I've read a lot of rants from people screaming discrimination because a book they want isn't available in their country. These people are very ignorant of the publishing business. Amazon doesn't not sell to a certain country-they can't by law.

Copyright law and publishing rights can be very complex. When a book sells certain rights are purchased, such as First North American Serial Rights, First Reprint Rights, Anthology Rights, First British Rights, First European Rights, and so on. It's these rights that decide where a book can be published. For example if a publisher purchases the First NA Rights to a book, they and only they have the right to publish the book in North America.

Books that only have First North American Rights can't be published in Europe, and books that only have First European Rights, can't be published here. For a book that was published here with First NA Rights to be made available in say, Romania, a publisher in Europe would have to purchase First European Rights.

Amazon can not LEGALLY sell a book to a country that doesn't have publishing rights. It's frustrating I'm sure, but ripping Amazon apart for it and accusing them of discriminatory practices is just wrong.

If you want a book not available in your country, lobby the publishing companies there to pick up the publishing rights!

I think most people here are aware of all this. It doesn't stop us from being annoyed about the way the law works for ebooks.

Amazon will happily sell dt books across international borders but you can then find that the self-same book in eformat is restricted. Of course, that's not Amazon's fault, any more than the different tax regimes for the different formats are. It's still bloody irritating.