[LINK] A call to arms - parallel book imports

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Chris Gilbey wrote:
> A couple of points on this debate....
<snip>
> In closing, I remember when Allan Fels was head of the ACCC and was putting
> the economic rationalist ruler over the music industry in the 90¹s and
> trying to get retail prices down. The record companies fought tooth and nail
> against the ACCC and ended up not giving up much. I said then, ³The internet
> will do to the music industry what Allan Fels has failed to do². Ultimately
> there doesn¹t need to be any new regulation. The internet does it, but does
> it in a much more stealthy way where publishers and retailers and authors
> will all need to modify the way that their contracts function. The
> fundamental issue is that the agents and the publishers are still living in
> a 19th century world of contract law.
> 
<snip>

Or perhaps the 18th Century....

> The first copyright act was passed in 1709. It freed author and publisher from printers' monopolies and gave them the right to negotiate for royalties and other terms. It also gave the public free access to an author's work after a given time. During the 18th cent. the bookseller supplanted the printer in dominance of the book trade. This coincided with increased demand for books from circulating libraries and the more affluent members of the public. Religious, philosophical, and topographical works were published in large numbers, though eventually overtaken in popularity by the novel.

<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-publishing.html>

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202