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OK. The "edited highlights" version:
In most cases, a publisher buys the rights to sell a book in a particular country or region; eg many books have separate UK and US rights sold, for example. Under the terms of their contract, the publisher can only sell to retailers and customers in their region.
When you buy a book mail-order, you are considered (legally, I mean) to be buying it from the shop, no matter where you live. Thus Amazon UK can sell you books with UK only rights, even if you don't live in the UK, because the point of sale is considered to be Amazon UK themselves, in the UK.
With eBooks, as previously discussed, for whatever legal reason there might be (and we all agree that it's silly, but it is apparently legally binding) the point of sale is considered to be the customer's location, so an eBookstore in the UK cannot sell you an eBook that they have UK only right to unless you live in the UK.
Yes, it's silly. But that's the way it is.
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