restrictive practice

[nobicus]

I bought my 505 in the UK where I live. When I use the “ebook store” on the “ebook library” program the only retailer I can connect with is Waterstones here in the UK. I read on the forum about the Sony bookstore in the US and indeed can look at this through Internet Explorer. The Sony US site tells me that to purchase books I must have the “ebook library” program installed on my computer. I have this as mentioned above.
In restricting my “ebook library” program to a connection only with Waterstones in the UK, Sony are in effect refusing to sell me books from their US website. Are Sony, therefore, in breach of the US anti-trust laws and the EEC competition laws in Europe because they are restricting my potential purchases through the ebook library to Waterstones only with whom Sony have an exclusivity contract allowing Waterstones to be the only UK retailer of the 505, other than themselves through their internet shop?
Whilst I appreciate that I could uninstall “ebook library” from my computer, download an earlier US version from Sony’s US site and install this there is no guarantee that this would work because the Sony US site says that there is a firmware update that must be installed as well. Is the firmware update already installed in the UK 505s and is it the same firmware that installs to the US 505s? Would trying to install a firmware update to a 505 that already has a version installed “blow” the rest of the reader’s program. I for one am not willing to risk my £200 reader to try this when all I am doing is finding a workround and, in effect, approving what I believe to be Sony’s illegal practices.
Does anyone else have any opinions?

[babyd]

I don't even think it will work if you use the US version of elibrary. I believe you have to have a US credit card to purchase from the Sony ebook store anyway. The only way round it to to buy vouchers via a US contact as far as Im aware.

Why not just buy from Fictionwise or Books on Board in lit format and then convert to the sony format, it is really quick and easy to do.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by babyd

I don't even think it will work if you use the US version of elibrary. I believe you have to have a US credit card to purchase from the Sony ebook store anyway. The only way round it to to buy vouchers via a US contact as far as Im aware.

Absolutely right. "Leaping Gnome" will buy Sony Store vouchers if anyone wants any - send him a PM if interested.

Why not just buy from Fictionwise or Books on Board in lit format and then convert to the sony format, it is really quick and easy to do.

Completely agree - this is by far the best and easiest answer, provided that you're using a Windows PC.

[nobicus]

What if I were computer illiterate or had a limited web access. I would have to rely on Sony's instruction manual only. What then?

[Madam Broshkina]

Originally Posted by nobicus

What if I were computer illiterate or had a limited web access. I would have to rely on Sony's instruction manual only. What then?

If a person was computer illiterate and had limited web access they probably would not buy a Sony Reader or an other reader (except maybe the Kindle in the USA) in the first place. In the UK Sony wants you to buy books from Waterstones, they certainly are not going to advertise workarounds where you can buy books from other vendors.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by nobicus

In restricting my “ebook library” program to a connection only with Waterstones in the UK, Sony are in effect refusing to sell me books from their US website.

Yes, but they do this because the Sony ebooks are only licensed in the US. The same book can have a US and a UK publisher, and you can't (so far as I know) buy the US version of such a pbook in a UK bookstore either.

Amazon has the same problem with at least some of their Kindle ebooks, they are from US publishers with US but not worldwide rights. There are going to be angry posts about region-specific Kindle ebooks when the Kindle is available in other countries.

Other ebook vendors seem to get away with not checking the addresses on credit cards, but these vendors are not selling the reading device which may make a difference legally. I'm not sure what restrictions FictionWise places on EB-1150 secure IMPs though, so this may be a counter example.

[dickon25]

Why not just buy from Fictionwise or Books on Board in lit format and then convert to the sony format, it is really quick and easy to do.

I completely agree! I'm in the UK and I've never bought from Waterstones or the Sony Connect store - too expensive and too limited for choice, on top of the non US credit card hang-up!

I also use Baen, Diesel Ebooks, Gutenberg and Tor.

[Canterbury Tail]

Oh and they're not breaking EU competition laws. If there was another Sony store in Europe selling ebooks and they wouldn't let you use that from another EU country, that would be breaking the free trade laws. Not letting you use one from outside the EU isn't. Also it isn't breaking US anti-trust laws as you're not in the US.

[nobicus]

Fraid they do. This is a coercive monopoly. Described by Wilki as "........a coercive monopoly is a business concern that prohibits competitors from entering the field, with the natural result being that the firm is able to make pricing and production decisions independent of competitive forces. A coercive monopoly is not merely a sole supplier of a particular kind of good or service (a monopoly), but it is a monopoly where there is no opportunity to compete through means such as price competition, technological or product innovation, or marketing due to coercion; entry into the field is closed. As a coercive monopoly is securely shielded from possibility of competition, it is able to make pricing and production decisions with the assurance that no competition will arise. It is a case of a non-contestable market. A coercive monopoly has very few incentives to keep prices low and may deliberately price gouge consumers by curtailing production. Also, according to economist Murray Rothbard, "a coercive monopolist will tend to perform his service badly and inefficiently."
The "ebook library" is technical innovation and is limited by Sony to Waterstones and Sony's actions follow from this limitation.
I shall, of course, follow the workarounds suggested on this forum. In fact already purchasing from Baen (who do sell in Sony format anyway).
Many thanks for your opinions.

[HarryT]

nobicus,

If you dislike Sony's trade practices, the answer is simple - don't buy a Sony. It's not as if they are the only maker of eInk readers on the market.

[dordale]

Also--I'm sure Sony would love to open up their Connect e-bookstore to the UK. Why wouldn't they want to increase their marketbase? It's their agreements with the publishers that won't allow them to sell their books outside of the U.S. and now Canada.

dordale

[parsi]

I can't see what's restrictive about their practices:

- you can buy ebooks from a wide variety of online stores both in the US and UK without needing the Sony software,
- you can buy the reader from different stores as well (here there are at least three chains selling it).

It's not much different from iTunes except there are way more places to get the content legally and you don't need to use the bundled software.

Of course if it's in wiki it has to be true.............................................

[AshW]

Originally Posted by nobicus

In fact already purchasing from Baen (who do sell in Sony format anyway).

Which according to the definition you cut and pasted means they're not a "coercive monopoly". Crisis averted!

If the device were restricted in such a way that you could not do this then you might have a case. But it's not. The library program only allows you to buy books from a single store, but it does not prohibit you form importing and reading books purchased elsewhere. There is no monopoly of any kind here.

The reason we can't use the Sony US store is simply due to publishing rights. It's one of the reasons Sony has got the jump on Amazon in Europe. As they're in a position where they can choose to partner with local companies who can sort out the rights themselves.

[Lemurion]

What would be really interesting is seeing if Canadians can use the UK as well as the US store? Elsewhere someone commented that as a Canadian they suddenly cannot buy some books from the US store. The usual reason for this is because these are books where the UK publisher holds the Canadian rights not the US one. If that's the case, Canadian customers should be allowed to use both stores, but only buy a subset from each.

It would be really interesting to find out if this is the case.

[HarryT]

The Waterstones eBook store is, AFAIK, entirely unrestricted in terms of who can use it. However, given its rather high prices, it's going to restrict itself to those with "deep pockets" .