Quote:
Originally Posted by Barcey
The problem is that the current copyright laws have broken the free market system, it doesn't work when one side can make all the rules. The publishers have demonstrated that they won't negotiate a fair deal with the libraries. The governments need to step in and mandate what the publishers will be paid via the library system.
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I don't think you understand what a free market system is supposed to do, and because of that you believe it is broken when, in fact, it is working exactly the way it is supposed to.
In a free market, the seller gets to decide what product to produce, and what price to put on it. The buyer gets to look at the offered products and decide whether or not to part with the cash the seller asks for, or to forgo the purchase altogether. It is not a market failure when I don't buy a Ferrari because I believe it costs too much. Nor is it a market failure when Saab disappears as a continuing interest after they have proven unable to make a product that people want at the price they needed to charge to make a profit.
If there were no eBooks at the library, then we could say the deal is not fair. But libraries continue to purchase eBooks, even with these rules in place, and as long as that continues, there is no reason for the publishers to change the way they act.
If the eBook situation is really as horrible as you believe, then a grass-roots campaign to inform citizens to stop borrowing eBooks from the library and to demand that libraries stop purchasing them would be an effective remedy. If an informed public stopped borrowing eBooks, the libraries would stop buying them, and the publishers would either change their ways or cease to exist. That's how the free market works, should work, and must work.
The government-controlled market is where the government comes in and tells the producer how they must create their product, bundle their product, and price their product. Historically, this has led to many more companies ceasing to exist as government bureaucrats typically lack the business sense to make a company profitable. And companies without profits typically don't last long.