You Can't Resell A Book On eBay?

from the details-please... dept

Ina Steiner writes in with a somewhat confusing self-written article talking about how publishing firm Wiley has sued a student for trying to sell some Wiley books on eBay. The article could use a few more details however. The article makes the point that the student complied with the cease and desist and apparently took all the right steps in responding -- but that Wiley is either not responding to him directly or threatening him with a lawsuit, which has now apparently started, despite the student not receiving any information about that lawsuit. However, a bunch of things in the article aren't clear at all. Were the books fake? People are accused of selling counterfeit CDs, software and movies online all the time -- but books seem a lot rarer. If he was just reselling a book that he legally purchased, then what's the problem? Also, other aspects -- including the refusal to speak by phone -- make this story seem quite odd, and in need of a much better description of what has actually happened. Update: Aha, the details come out. These were apparently e-books. Seems like that would have been useful info to include in the article.
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  1. identicon
    Jeff, 25 Apr 2005 @ 1:34pm

    Not surprising

    The book publishing industry has tried to get laws passed to completely change the way libraries work. They want to be compensated every time a book is checked out. Lets face. The book publishing industry is as archaic as the recording industry.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Jim, 25 Apr 2005 @ 1:45pm

    No Subject Given

    The article clearly states that these were *pirated* copies of the copyrighted works...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Mike (profile), 25 Apr 2005 @ 1:57pm

    Re: No Subject Given

    How do you pirate a book? With something that's digital (a CD, software, etc.) it's easy. However, it's not clear what really happened here. Was it photocopied? Scanned?

    Details would certainly help.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Platypus, 25 Apr 2005 @ 2:05pm

    They appear to be electronic books

    If you follow the link in the article:
    http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-101310,newsId-2204.html

    They are hitting people that are selling ebooks. This I can understand, since they may be easily copied and sold more than once.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Sarah, 25 Apr 2005 @ 2:39pm

    The books are "Electonic"

    I think you misunderstood what is going on here - in the statement on the Wiley website it clearly states that this is regardong the "...illegal sale of pirated electronic copies of books"

    Thanks!

    Sarah

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Who would want these books??, 26 Apr 2005 @ 11:04am

    No Subject Given

    Wiley Books are the worst tech books ever written.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Kathleen Hill, 15 Jan 2006 @ 5:50pm

    E Books

    So, if I have an electronic book, I can not resell it? I would like to know before I do anything illegal.

    Thank you

    link to this | view in thread ]


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