Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
don't see any basis for a court to require a publisher to use a wholesale/retail model as opposed to a seller/agent model.
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One, probably not.
But five/six, acting in concert?
More, *switching* from wholesale to agency? How common is that?
Most agency-style businesses start out that way rather than switch mid-stream.
A further question the court might be interested in is why do agency *only* on ebooks but not on print books or audio books. After all, since publishers accept returns on print books, they are in effect using an on-consignment model that fits agency even better than ebooks.
Again, I doubt the final outcome will settle anything in time to make any difference in the current course of the ebook evolution but these are not frivolous lawsuits: there are substantive issues at stake and there is enough publicly-available info to justify the filings. Odds are the mess ends up before SCOTUS and in Congress after that.
Just don't expect a judge to wave a magic gavel and make this mess go away any time soon.