Aussie regulator: E-book price fixing is not our problem

[caleb72]

The problem I had with the Senator's original submission is that I didn't get a feeling that he understood what he was asking for.

I don't feel I'm qualified to make an intelligent submission to the ACCC on possible price-fixing or collusion specifically in the Australian e-book market, but when I read what the Senator posted, it seemed to me that he read somewhere about collusion and Apple and then started campaigning "for the people". Apple is well known in Australia so it makes them suitable for a big bad wolf role.

It came across a little bonkers to me.

[jehane]

Originally Posted by caleb72

The problem I had with the Senator's original submission is that I didn't get a feeling that he understood what he was asking for.

Agreed. Looks more like he's raising his profile ahead of the election.

Originally Posted by caleb72

From what I understand there is some other element in play which artificially raises the price of ebooks bought in Australia due to some agreement with local publishers. I can't remember where I read about this or how accurate it still is, but it wasn't related to Apple in any way. Anyone have more info on this?

There was a Productivity Commission report on the Australian publishing industry and the restrictions on parallel imports a few years back. There was a fair bit of discussion here on MobileRead and elsewhere at the time. There was a nauseating speech by one of the publishing industry leaders (Louise Adler I think) at the Press Club justifying high Australian book prices. You might remember the tv ad campaign featuring well-known writers like Tim Winton protesting against the removal of parallel imports. Sadly, in the end the publishing lobby won and the Government threw out the PC recommendations.

Basically the way it works is that if an Australian publisher (I think it applies to Australian imprints of foreign publishers) buys the rights to a book, then a shop in Australia can only sell the editions published by the Australian publisher. Hence higher prices when buying from Dymocks, A&R, your local bookshop. If a book is not published here then bookshops can buy the overseas editions, but from my understanding they go through certain distributors which seem to increase the price anyway. Which is why Book Depository and Amazon were so incredibly successful.

ebooks are treated differently in one significant way - the point of sale of a print book is considered the location of the shop, whereas the point of sale of an ebook is considered the location of the buyer. So an individual in Australia buying a print book from Amazon.com (for example) is considered to be buying in the US, and can buy at US prices. An individual in Australia buying an ebook from Amazon.com is considered to be buying in Australia and is subject to Australian pricing and geo-restrictions.

My opinion (IANAL!!) is that the US decision only impacts Australians to the extent that it would act as precedent in any similar case in Australia. However I am not aware of similar overt collusion actions occurring amongst Australian publishers so I doubt that a similar case would or could happen.

Sorry for the long rant, it's one of my hot button issues even now that I am living in the land of cheap books!

[melmac]

Originally Posted by jehane

ebooks are treated differently in one significant way - the point of sale of a print book is considered the location of the shop, whereas the point of sale of an ebook is considered the location of the buyer. So an individual in Australia buying a print book from Amazon.com (for example) is considered to be buying in the US, and can buy at US prices. An individual in Australia buying an ebook from Amazon.com is considered to be buying in Australia and is subject to Australian pricing and geo-restrictions.

Why is this? Who decided that the ebook sale should be treated differently than the pbook.

Great post btw

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by melmac

Why is this? Who decided that the ebook sale should be treated differently than the pbook.

Great post btw

I don't know WHY it is, but it works the same way in other countries, too. That's not something which is unique to Australia.

[jehane]

But wait, there's more...

Parliamentary Committee recommends teaching consumers how to get around geo-blocking

There's a link to the full report in the article. No, I haven't read all 146 pages. It's largely about software but it does also cover digital media including books. From the article:

The committee's chairman, Nick Champion, said geo-blocking was unfair when used to segregate global markets in order to make bigger profits, and pointed to "significant impacts" on Australian consumers and businesses.

"High IT prices can have significant impacts given the critical role IT plays in many areas of Australian life."

He said the report had made 10 recommendations to lower prices, included educating Australian businesses on how to bypass geo-blocks.

"What we want to do is make sure that consumers are aware of the extent to which geo-blocking applies to them and the extent to which they can lawfully evade them," Mr Champion said.