From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2012 09:07:46 -0500

Here is the best overall account of the mess with e-books that I have yet seen:

http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/11/02/why-e-book-distribution-is-completely-and-utterly-broken-and-how-to-fix-it/#comment-63561

Sandy Thatcher


> From: Jim O'Donnell <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:59:36 +0100
>
> Sandy, thanks.  The most trenchant sentence in that piece is:  "But I
> have a feeling that Amazon's default standing is that they simply
> won't sell anything at all out of the territories where they know
> absolutely that they have the rights."
>
> That feels astute.  Absent absolute assurance of rights, they will
> assume they have no rights and will utter mumbo-jumbo about why they
> can't do perfectly reasonable things.
>
> Jim O'Donnell
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 10:56 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>  From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
>>  Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:04:32 -0500
>>
>>  Perhaps this throws some light (or yet more darkness) on the question?
>>
>>
>> http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/10/23/but-why-would-amazon-wipe-your-kindle-to-protect-amazon/
>>
>>  Sandy Thatcher
>>
>>
>>>  From: Sally Morris <[log in to unmask]>
>>>  Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:59:42 +0100
>>>
>>>  German copyright law does not allow, as English and US law do, for the
>>>  type of clause that assigns future rights that have not yet been
>>>  invented.  Hence it would not have been possible for the original
>>>  contracts for those books to include electronic rights
>
>  >>
>  >> Sally Morris
>  >> South House, The Street, Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex, UK  BN13 3UU
>  >> Email:  [log in to unmask]
>  >>
>  >> ________________________________
>>>
>>>  From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
>>>  Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 19:08:45 -0400
>>>
>>>  All interests are indeed aligned.  That doesn't mean the situation
>>>  will change anytime soon.  I don't know the particulars of the volume
>>>  you referenced, but for many books, in any language, the problem is
>>>  the retrospective clearing of rights.  It has a big administrative
>>>  cost. (This is also the primary reason for the orphan works problem.)
>>>  There are also different rights issues for print and electronic books.
>>>
>>>  A couple years ago I worked with a client that had set up a
>>>  French-language Web site for academic titles.  It was print only.  50%
>>>  of the sales for that site came from outside France.
>>>
>>>  Joe Esposito