" any eBook sold in France must cost the same as its paper versions"

[SameOldStory]

French law-makers set a fixed price for eBooks in attempt to keep the paper book market alive

"French law-makers have just decreed that any eBook sold in France must cost the same as its paper versions in a unanimous ruling in the French Senate."

I am truly sorry that I don't have French ebooks to give away to any citisan of France. You guys really have to give a second thought to your politicians. Perhaps a tea party of your own? How about a 100.000 people each droping a few books into the Seine? Of course if it's illeagal, I resend my suggestion.

[desertgrandma]

Hmmm.......just goes to show.........

politicians are the same all over the world.

Ignorant.

[abookreader]

Holy crap!

[Elfwreck]

Hmm... will they have the same legal rights with the ebooks that they do with pbooks? The right to loan or resell them?

And does this mean public domain ebooks can't be given away for free if someone is also selling them? What about pbooks sold for different prices (hardcover/trade/mmpb versions, or different versions licensed to different publishers)? Is the ebook vendor free to match any of those prices, or will someone be establishing rules for which version is the "correct" one?

(Rhetorical questions. Just pondering how countries try to pass laws to support flawed business models.)

[Salgueiros]

Unbelieavable......

Fortunately, internet has no borders and french will be able to get ebooks outside France. Talk about discouraging piracy....

[lila55]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

(Rhetorical questions. Just pondering how countries try to pass laws to support flawed business models.)

Or: How laws are passed by people who have no idea of what they are talking about.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

French law-makers set a fixed price for eBooks in attempt to keep the paper book market alive

"French law-makers have just decreed that any eBook sold in France must cost the same as its paper versions in a unanimous ruling in the French Senate."

I am truly sorry that I don't have French ebooks to give away to any citisan of France. You guys really have to give a second thought to your politicians. Perhaps a tea party of your own? How about a 100.000 people each droping a few books into the Seine? Of course if it's illeagal, I resend my suggestion.

The one big problem with this is that not all paper versions of the same book are identically priced.

How do they plan to deal with that?

[AdamV]

I think those who say that politicians are idiots or ignorant must understand that there is a real material reson behind this (and other similiar) decision - money...

As desertgrandma stated, they are the same all over the world - but the word should be - corrupted... Why do I say so? Just think, who gains on such law... The country? Not likely... The government? Well, maybe with some under table money being passed, but not really big one. So who does?

If you answer the question correctly, you'll see the lobbying guys steering our laws. That's politics - always and everywhere the same...

Like Liza Minnelly and Joel Grey once sang in "Cabaret" - Money makes this world going round... Or like the French say - C'est la vie

Anyway, I do hope it will eventually become another dead law in France (as the recent anti piracy one did) and we all will enjoy a real free market out there!

[SameOldStory]

From that website

"However French publishers have reacted angrily to the interference with their ability to price the products that they sell"

I have to agree. There are times when I prefer to spend more on a book such as a reproduction of William Blake's works. Obviously that would cost more than plane text.

[HarryT]

This has to be looked at in the context that France, like many European countries, has laws that do not permit discounting of books - every book has to be sold at its cover price. (We used to have the same law in the UK until the 1990s). It was really only a matter of time until the law caught up with eBooks.

[Phogg]

So if you don't produce a dead tree version of your work, you can undercut the rest of the market, right?



This is potentially a lucrative opportunity for some one.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by AdamV

I think those who say that politicians are idiots or ignorant must understand that there is a real material reson behind this (and other similiar) decision - money...

As desertgrandma stated, they are the same all over the world - but the word should be - corrupted... Why do I say so? Just think, who gains on such law... The country? Not likely... The government? Well, maybe with some under table money being passed, but not really big one. So who does?

If you answer the question correctly, you'll see the lobbying guys steering our laws. That's politics - always and everywhere the same...

Like Liza Minnelly and Joel Grey once sang in "Cabaret" - Money makes this world going round... Or like the French say - C'est la vie

Anyway, I do hope it will eventually become another dead law in France (as the recent anti piracy one did) and we all will enjoy a real free market out there!

Thank you. Thats the word I should have used in the first place.

I take back the word. You cannot rise to power by being ignorant, but you can by being corrupt. Someone somewhere is benefiting by this law, which is not in the interest of the people.....wonder who that could be?

Unfortunately, this isn't a localized problem.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

I take back the word. You cannot rise to power by being ignorant, but you can by being corrupt. Someone somewhere is benefiting by this law, which is not in the interest of the people.....wonder who that could be?

Unfortunately, this isn't a localized problem.

The argument in favour of fixed pricing for books (an argument which I don't personally support, but I accept that it has a certain validity) is that the result of a free market in book pricing is the closure of small independent bookshops and, indeed, the British experience would seem to bear out the truth of that. In the days of the Net Book Agreement (the British fixed-price book arrangement) every town had its small bookshops. Within a few years of its abolition, they'd practically all gone. These days supermarkets sell cheap bestsellers, and there's only one bookseller still left - Waterstones, who have a shop in almost every town. Independent booksellers (other than specialist shops) are practically an extinct species. It could well be argued that this is too high a price to pay for the privilege of being able to buy cheap bestsellers along with your groceries.

[Cliff Ball]

Since a couple of US politicians want to emulate all things European, watch that idea come along in the next couple years in Congress or at the White House. Or, it'll be in the form of a big old bailout for the publishing industry.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This has to be looked at in the context that France, like many European countries, has laws that do not permit discounting of books - every book has to be sold at its cover price. (We used to have the same law in the UK until the 1990s). It was really only a matter of time until the law caught up with eBooks.

I remember from my French classes in high school the bit of trivia that in France it is illegal for stores to even have sales except on a couple of specified days of the year. Is that still true? Apparently, "sale" is a dirty word in France. (Polyglot pun intended.)