Copyright lobby targets "Pirate Bay for textbooks"

gwynevans · 04-23-2009, 07:37 AM

Not eBooks (and not copied) but possibly interesting...

From http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/17696.cfm

"Copyright lobby targets "Pirate Bay for textbooks"

Copyright lobby targets Pirate Bay for textbooks Finnish book rental service Bookabooka is being threatened by national copyright lobby organization TTVK for running a service the lobby group calls "Pirate Bay for textbooks".

Bookabooka doesn't host any e-books on its site, but instead allows students to rent their textbooks to their peers. Renting is conducted via traditional "snailmail" (i.e. postal service) and it is mandatory that the textbooks are originals (not xeroxed copies). Bookabooka acts only as an intermediate, connecting the students together and doesn't handle the shipping or returns of the textbooks.

Despite these "small" differences between TPB and Bookabooka, The Finnish book publishers' association (Suomen Kustannusyhdistys) is convinced that Bookabooka is breaking the copyright legislation and threatening their business. Annual school textbook sales in Finland were worth more than €100M in year 2007.

TTVK demands (PDF, in Finnish) that the service must be shut down by Friday this week or they'll sue the company. Bookabooka's founders have already stated that they wont respond to the threats, but instead will keep the service running.

HarryT · 04-23-2009, 07:40 AM

Curious - I wonder what aspect of the copyright law they believe is being broken? There's no law against "renting out" books, that I am aware of.

Format C: · 04-23-2009, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Curious - I wonder what aspect of the copyright law they believe is being broken? There's no law against "renting out" books, that I am aware of.

In my country, most of the p-books have a "Rent Forbidden" on them.
Like LPs, CDs and "special edition" DVDs.

Nate the great · 04-23-2009, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Format C:

In my country, most of the p-books have a "Rent Forbidden" on them.
Like LPs, CDs and "special edition" DVDs.

That's interesting. In the US that would never stand up in court.

HarryT · 04-23-2009, 08:55 AM

In the UK, we generally have separate "rental" and "non-rental" versions of DVDs, but to the best of my knowledge, there's no problem with renting books, CDs, etc.

RobbieClarken · 04-23-2009, 04:29 PM

I presume it is legal in Finland to:
(a) Lend someone a book for free
(b) Sell someone your second hand book
So why can't you rent your book to someone?

Just another case of IP owners struggling to preserve their monopolies as technology make their business model impractical.

sianon · 04-23-2009, 09:33 PM

When I was in secondary school (many years ago) we paid $50AU to hire text books for the school year. If all books were returned in good order, the fee carried over to the next years books until the student left the school at which time the deposit was refunded. It was a scheme that worked very well for students and their parents, but without doubt the publishers lost sales on the scheme.

04-23-2009, 07:37 AM	#1
gwynevans Wizzard Posts: 1,402 Karma: 2000000 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: iPad 2, iPhone 6s, Kindle Voyage & Kindle PaperWhite	Copyright lobby targets "Pirate Bay for textbooks" Not eBooks (and not copied) but possibly interesting... From http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/17696.cfm "Copyright lobby targets "Pirate Bay for textbooks" Copyright lobby targets Pirate Bay for textbooks Finnish book rental service Bookabooka is being threatened by national copyright lobby organization TTVK for running a service the lobby group calls "Pirate Bay for textbooks". Bookabooka doesn't host any e-books on its site, but instead allows students to rent their textbooks to their peers. Renting is conducted via traditional "snailmail" (i.e. postal service) and it is mandatory that the textbooks are originals (not xeroxed copies). Bookabooka acts only as an intermediate, connecting the students together and doesn't handle the shipping or returns of the textbooks. Despite these "small" differences between TPB and Bookabooka, The Finnish book publishers' association (Suomen Kustannusyhdistys) is convinced that Bookabooka is breaking the copyright legislation and threatening their business. Annual school textbook sales in Finland were worth more than €100M in year 2007. TTVK demands (PDF, in Finnish) that the service must be shut down by Friday this week or they'll sue the company. Bookabooka's founders have already stated that they wont respond to the threats, but instead will keep the service running.

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04-23-2009, 07:40 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Curious - I wonder what aspect of the copyright law they believe is being broken? There's no law against "renting out" books, that I am aware of.

04-23-2009, 08:55 AM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	In the UK, we generally have separate "rental" and "non-rental" versions of DVDs, but to the best of my knowledge, there's no problem with renting books, CDs, etc.

04-23-2009, 04:29 PM	#6
RobbieClarken Addict Posts: 371 Karma: 1002274 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Australia Device: Kindle	I presume it is legal in Finland to: (a) Lend someone a book for free (b) Sell someone your second hand book So why can't you rent your book to someone? Just another case of IP owners struggling to preserve their monopolies as technology make their business model impractical.

04-23-2009, 09:33 PM	#7
sianon Addict Posts: 352 Karma: 572 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Melbourne Device: Sony 500, Bebook, Kindle, Eco reader Drs and soon the Archos 9	When I was in secondary school (many years ago) we paid $50AU to hire text books for the school year. If all books were returned in good order, the fee carried over to the next years books until the student left the school at which time the deposit was refunded. It was a scheme that worked very well for students and their parents, but without doubt the publishers lost sales on the scheme.

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