Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
Why do you believe that is a non-copyright infringement sale? It might be a sale nobody will complain about but that is a different thing.
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The publisher is not making an illegal copy. The vender (who may or may not be the publisher), may have an agreement not to sell you the book, but unless you are presented with a contract stipulating that you can only buy the book if you are in a certain country, you are doing nothing illegal or even immoral.
Often there is no contract or agreement. The same vender sells books at different prices in different countries. Both ebooks and paper books. Sometimes the parent company sets up different subsidiaries to do this sometimes not. Canadian companies shipping to the US often charge US purchasers less, even the little ones. And American companies often charge higher prices to Canadian retailers.
The agreements in question are similar to those that companies have with salesmen who sell door to door. You have a territory that is assigned. You cannot go outside that territory and knock on doors. But if someone comes to you and wants some Avon products, for example, maybe because they work with your brother-in-law you are allowed to sell to them.
As long as the vender does not knowingly sell outside their territory they are not doing anything illegal or immoral either. The contract may specify what lengths the vender has to go to to find out where you live, and they were more stringent at one time. Now an IP check is all that is require in most cases. If the IP checks out then the vender is considered blameless under the law. Personally I think the requirements were relaxed because the publisher would rather sell at a higher price when they can, but are willing to sell lower rather than lose the sale.
Claiming it is piracy is like saying if I walk across the border to buy something at a lower price I am taking it without paying for it.
Claiming it is copyright infringement seems a tad unknowledgeable. The vender has agreed vender with other venders to not knowingly sell outside their territory. Nothing to do with making copies or paying royalties or contracts with the author. The agreement is between venders, not between the copyright holder and the publisher (who may be one and the same). Sometimes the different venders are actually the same company. Copyright infringement only comes into play if you are distributing the book without the rights holder’s permission.
Helen