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OMK3,
You've made some good points. But I think one of the reasons for the situation is historical. Up until a while ago, British publishers typically purchased "British and Commonwealth rights" - and before that it was "British and Empire rights", a throwback to the old imperial days. I suspect it's just an old habit that persists.
But I take you point that the EU is supposed to put an end to that kind of practice. I don't know the reasons behind it.
Another point. You say: authors may sell distribution rights of their books to two or more publishers, each exclusively responsible for a region.
What's more likely to happen is that the author sells the rights to a publisher; the publisher publishes the book in their home territory, and then try to sell on the publication rights for other territories to other publishers. The author typically gets a royalty on the home sales, and a percentage of the lump sum for the "other" rights.
At least, that's how it was in my young day. As you say, it's all a bit anachronistic in the global economy.
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