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Originally Posted by latepaul
IANAL but I think it does have to do with copyright infringement because a copy is being made when the book is sold. Only the copyright owner has the right to make copies and those to whom they have granted a license. In the case of books these licenses are usually regional. So if Publisher A has the rights to the book in Country Y but not Country X then it would be breaking the terms of its license to make and sell copies in X and therefore infringing copyright.
The big question is whether the end customer is also liable in any sense. From a purely technical point of view the customer is also making copies when downloading the book to their computer and/or devices. Normally this is covered by the terms of the license inherited from the publisher (through the store), but if the publisher had no rights in the first place then neither does the customer.
Or put it another way - if the book is under copyright then under what license, contract or agreement does the customer gain the right to make their copies? If no such license exists and the customer knows it, how is this not infringing copyright?
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What country counts when you use a VPN? Digitally you are in another country, so all these considerations might become moot and you might actually be eligible. Also, if the seller has taken reasonable precautions to make sure that the buyer is in the seller's territory, is the contract still valid, is the seller liable? None of this hasn't been tested in court and we are just speculating here. A deal has been made and money has changed hands, so everything is "clean". To compare this with just taking a book and not paying at all is just ridiculous (like comparing jaywalking to murder). Let them come for their paying customers if they want to. In the end, if the authors/publishers actually want to stop it, they can only try to have sellers make more thorough background checks. Which would not be good for sales.