From: Kevin Smith <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 13:04:48 +0000

One thing that should be clear is that whatever negotiating leverage
there is that could change this situation, it resides with the
publishers.  Obviously individual readers cannot negotiate the terms
or conditions of their e-book experience, but publishers could, when
they contract to provide content to different platforms.  That
publishers have influence here is shown by the recent court ruling
that several major publishers conspired to raise e-book prices.  But
that influence has so far done nothing to mitigate this nonsense with
DRM.

So even if it is true that publishers haven't done anything wrong,
they clearly have not done anything to mitigate this wrong.

Kevin L. Smith, J.D.
Director of Scholarly Communication
Duke University Libraries
P.O. Box 90193
Durham, NC 27708


On Aug 18, 2013, at 8:21 AM, "LIBLICENSE" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Alex Holzman <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 09:43:57 -0400
>
> Elizabeth,
>
> Whoa!  How did we get from Apple i-Pad and Google Books to blaming
> this on protecting publishers' investments?  I can't think of a single
> publisher who would want Jim's or anyone else's books to disappear
> from their reader just because they downloaded an app in a foreign
> country that then required re-loading of their books.  Whether Google
> Books is licensed to do business in a specific country also has
> nothing to do with publishers.  (Whether a specific publisher's
> version of a book is available overseas can depend on whether it has
> licensed English-language rights in that country, something I view as
> a bad idea for ebooks, but that's a different issue and not relevant
> here.)
>
> By all means, blame us when we do something wrong, but in this case
> protecting publishers' investments had nothing to do with Jim's
> frustrating experience.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Alex Holzman
> Director, Temple Univ. Press
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 8:41 AM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> From: "Elizabeth E. Kirk" <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 13:30:45 +0000
>>
>> Fun, no? And try buying a Kindle title from amazon.fr. You can't.
>> I am stymied at how this protects publishers' investments if you
>> can't buy their books.
>>
>>
>> Elizabeth E. Kirk
>> Associate Librarian for Information Resources
>> Dartmouth College Library
>> Hanover, NH, USA
>> [log in to unmask]