RE: US consumer purchase of international editions

["Aline Soules" <aline.soules@csueastbay.edu>]

As an addendum to the issue of bringing books from one country to
another, I can attest to the fact that if you are sending a book
to Canada from the United States, it may not get there.  I'm not
talking about anything that might be constituted "obscene" or
controversial in some other way, but I can't even have the New
Yorker send a desk diary to a friend in Canada (my annual present
to her).  It's sent back as not acceptable by customs.  As a
result, I have to find a "work-around" to get it to her.

I've also had other experiences of sending perfectly innocuous
books to Canada and having them rejected by customs as "not
acceptable" books.

I find this ironic in light of the exchange of drugs between the
countries.

There must be some bureaucratic rationales behind these
decisions/behaviors, but I've never been able to figure them out.

Aline Soules
Cal State East Bay
Aline.soules@csueastbay.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] 
On Behalf Of Jean-Claude Guedon Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 5:19 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: US consumer purchase of international editions

Market segmentation by region of the world has nothing to do with
copyright. it has all to do with extracting maximum profit from
each market by playing on the total "price x #sales". It is the
same strategy with the zones for DVD's and just as reprehensible.
it also works for drugs, and there is is downright abominable
(remember US elders coming to Canada to buy drugs at about half
the price of US prices a few years back)..

Nothing in copyright law says anything about marketing
strategies. It speaks to modalities of property when applied to
documents (in the widest sense) of all kinds, and only to that.

Moreover, and so far as I know, no country has any law capable of
stopping a book from being introduced in a country even if the
cover says "not for resale in x, y and z. I am not talking about
books banned for whatever reasons here. Division of world markets
between various distributors is based on contracts. It is
implemented through contract laws, not copyright. In any case, at
the individual level, the first sale doctrine allows me to resell
a book from somewhere to be sold again in the US or elsewhere.

What I would hope for is that students should quickly organize
(within the limits of the law) ways to bring in these cheaper
volumes in their country and thus save a lot of money to their
colleagues, perhaps make a little bit of money themselves, and
expose one of the most despicable strategies of multinationals.
Or better still, students should get involved in the OER movement
(open educational resources).

Jean-Claude Guedon

Le mercredi 23 septembre 2009 a 21:02 -0400, Joseph Esposito a
ecrit :

> Oh, agree entirely with the diagnosis.  It's the remedy that
> eludes me.
>
> Arbitration is growing.  A couple undergraduates a few years ago
> at UCSD starting purchasing English-language science texts in
> China (with Chinese-language covers) and reselling them to their
> classmates. Undergraduates.  I can only see this situation
> worsening (or improving, depending on your point of view).
>
> Copyright is screwy. Even people who defend it, as I do, know it
> is screwy.
>
> Joe Esposito