Will competition among EReaders force Sony to sell books abroad?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is an ebook in Mobi format any different if it uses MP's or OD's DRM server or is it just the DRM server that's different?

It's just a different DRM server. BoB lets you have different PID lists for MP and OD Mobi-format books.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's just a different DRM server. BoB lets you have different PID lists for MP and OD Mobi-format books.

The interesting part of this as it relates to the topic, I think, is that it means that MP and OD both have distribution contracts for some of the same titles. Also, that MP doesn't always have an exclusive contract for a given title in its own format.

Charlie Stross mentioned that publishers often don't know who has what rights. I believe that. I was told, during the time prior to the Kindle coming out, that the major houses were scrambling through their contracts trying to track down which titles they held e-rights to and which they didn't. You would think that would be a simple look-up process, wouldn't you?

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by jasonkchapman

[snip]I was told, during the time prior to the Kindle coming out, that the major houses were scrambling through their contracts trying to track down which titles they held e-rights to and which they didn't. You would think that would be a simple look-up process, wouldn't you?

I'm not surprised in the least -- the publishing industry has been very slow to get onboard with computers, and I suspect the legal department may well be the last department to have to get up to speed. So the contracts are all on paper and probably not on computers yet, at least the important details. They may actually be scanned in, but with agents each negotiating special contracts for their authors, most likely no two contracts look exactly the same.

It'll take a while for them to simply enter all the contract data into a database where they can manipulate it to find out such things as which authors allow ebook versions, which don't, which will allow ebooks but under separate contract, which will allow them on the same conditions, as well as which authors have sold ebook rights to different publishers so that negotiations will have to start, etc.

I'm sure it's a legal morass which will make Dickens' Bleak House look like a simple and quick in/out court case!