Pirated ebooks on Amazon? - Page 2

JSWolf · 03-18-2009, 01:32 PM

When I had my 500, it came with an eBook edition of 1984. So there is at least one legal version out there.

Daithi · 03-18-2009, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Are you suggesting that every copy of "1984" sold in a US bookstore is also pirated? The fact that a book is still in copyright does not mean publishers can't publish it.

No, I'm not making that suggestion. Of course publishers can purchase the rights to publish any book they choose. However, if I see a guy running around Times Square selling Rolex watches for $100 then I might just get suspicious. Likewise, when I see easily available ebooks on Amazon with poor quality covers selling for $1 to $3 then I also get suspicious.

Books with poor quality covers in general make me suspicious, but of course I have no way of knowing which books on Amazon are completely legitimate. For that matter, I can't know which items sold by anybody are legitimate, but using price and packaging as an indicator to raise suspicion doesn't seem unreasonable.

JSWolf · 03-18-2009, 01:38 PM

A lot of eBooks come with crappy covers or no covers at all. That's why when I covert to read on my 505, I will go find a decent cover image to use in my conversion. In fact, the latest few Star Trek eBooks stopped coming out in MS Reader and stopped having covers. Some eBooks I've seen have come with a tiny thumbnail as the cover.

AnemicOak · 03-18-2009, 01:42 PM

It does look like some of the Orwell stuff on Amazon is shady. There are versions of 1984 and Animal Farm that are from Everyman's Library which is a division of Random House, but the cheapo copies seem very questionable.

bwaldron · 03-18-2009, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When I had my 500, it came with an eBook edition of 1984. So there is at least one legal version out there.

Maybe. Some of Orwell's stuff was also on Feedbooks for a while, until it was realized that copyright still applied.

MonaLS · 03-18-2009, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by S.Canton

I really can't imagine there being "pirated" books on Amazon; that would be comically bad for business.

There have been pirated books on Amazon, the Harry Potter books being the obvious ones. If you suspect a book is pirated, report it to Amazon. If it is a pirated book, it will disappear. (It may also disappear if it is a poorly formatted copy, so a disappearing book is no proof that it was pirated.)

Elsi · 03-19-2009, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorsk

One reason why original covers are often not available on eBooks is art rights - they often have to be renegotiated as contracts in past usually did not cover electronic rights.

Which also explains why reprints often have completely new cover art.

David J. Guyton · 03-19-2009, 02:26 PM

I'm almost positive that the whole uploading process is automated, so no one would be checking the content of the books. I'm sure that amazon has some way of filtering titles and flagging them now though.

Worst example was Bram Stoker's Dracula, renamed something like "The First Twilight" Or something like that. Just some guy or gal uploading a book and trying to capitalize on Stoker and the Twilight series.

I'm sure Dracula is no longer under copyright, but renaming a book and selling it yourself? Come on.

MoboHobo · 03-19-2009, 02:33 PM

Is Amazon supposed to accept the books before they go on sale or I'm guessing there is no validation system set up.

David J. Guyton · 03-19-2009, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoboHobo

Is Amazon supposed to accept the books before they go on sale or I'm guessing there is no validation system set up.

When you upload your book (or I guess someone else's book too), it goes into the system and you get a screen that tells you it will be live in 12-72 hours. This is all automated.

With 245,000+ books and many more coming, there's simply too many for amazon to read through for copyright infringement. I assume they could do so by title, but I don't know if they do this.

But since you need a bank account number to submit a book, people who submit pirated books can be found and prosecuted very easily.

koland · 03-19-2009, 03:36 PM

And they do read and investigate feedback - if you see a pirated book, just click on the feedback button at the bottom of the screen.

FYI - the Publisher of every title should be in the product details - it's easy to see which are self published (Amazon Digital Services/Platform or something like that). Some are legit, others possibly not and quite a few of the marked up (and possibly well formatted to justify the cost) public domain books are listed there. So were the illegal HP books (which were yanked out of everyone's library, from early reports, and credits issued, once the problem was discovered).

kevindorsey · 03-19-2009, 05:57 PM

Pirates need to make money and feed families too guys, ease up on them.

hybernation · 07-16-2009, 02:07 PM

I bought a .99 version of Animal Farm for Kindle several months ago. Today I got an email saying "your order has been refunded" for this book, and it's GONE from my Archive and it's GONE from the Kindle store.

I guess they got a takedown notice!

I'm glad I actually download all my Kindle purchases to my PC as well. I hadn't gotten around to reading it yet.

This just goes to show you that you REALLY DON'T OWN your kindle purchases. They can remove it from your "archive" at any time, for any reason...valid or not.

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03-18-2009, 01:32 PM	#16
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,758 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	When I had my 500, it came with an eBook edition of 1984. So there is at least one legal version out there.

03-18-2009, 01:38 PM	#18
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,758 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	A lot of eBooks come with crappy covers or no covers at all. That's why when I covert to read on my 505, I will go find a decent cover image to use in my conversion. In fact, the latest few Star Trek eBooks stopped coming out in MS Reader and stopped having covers. Some eBooks I've seen have come with a tiny thumbnail as the cover.

03-18-2009, 01:42 PM	#19
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	It does look like some of the Orwell stuff on Amazon is shady. There are versions of 1984 and Animal Farm that are from Everyman's Library which is a division of Random House, but the cheapo copies seem very questionable.

03-19-2009, 02:26 PM	#23
David J. Guyton Connoisseur Posts: 51 Karma: 501406 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: none	I'm almost positive that the whole uploading process is automated, so no one would be checking the content of the books. I'm sure that amazon has some way of filtering titles and flagging them now though. Worst example was Bram Stoker's Dracula, renamed something like "The First Twilight" Or something like that. Just some guy or gal uploading a book and trying to capitalize on Stoker and the Twilight series. I'm sure Dracula is no longer under copyright, but renaming a book and selling it yourself? Come on.

03-19-2009, 02:33 PM	#24
MoboHobo Banned Posts: 50 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Canada Device: Kindle 1	Is Amazon supposed to accept the books before they go on sale or I'm guessing there is no validation system set up.

03-19-2009, 03:36 PM	#26
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	And they do read and investigate feedback - if you see a pirated book, just click on the feedback button at the bottom of the screen. FYI - the Publisher of every title should be in the product details - it's easy to see which are self published (Amazon Digital Services/Platform or something like that). Some are legit, others possibly not and quite a few of the marked up (and possibly well formatted to justify the cost) public domain books are listed there. So were the illegal HP books (which were yanked out of everyone's library, from early reports, and credits issued, once the problem was discovered).

03-19-2009, 05:57 PM	#27
kevindorsey Evangelist Posts: 488 Karma: 258 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: kindle	Pirates need to make money and feed families too guys, ease up on them.

07-16-2009, 02:07 PM	#28
hybernation Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 38 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Franklin, TN USA Device: iPad, iPhone, Kindle 2 US, Sony PR-505	I bought a .99 version of Animal Farm for Kindle several months ago. Today I got an email saying "your order has been refunded" for this book, and it's GONE from my Archive and it's GONE from the Kindle store. I guess they got a takedown notice! I'm glad I actually download all my Kindle purchases to my PC as well. I hadn't gotten around to reading it yet. This just goes to show you that you REALLY DON'T OWN your kindle purchases. They can remove it from your "archive" at any time, for any reason...valid or not.

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