DRM Lawsuit by Indie Bookstores

[Steerpike]

I'm not a fan of DRM in general, but I'm not sure this lawsuit has much merit, either. You can still sell your eBooks in other venues without DRM and they can be read on various devices. I suppose the problem here is publishers wanting to use DRM, and having to use Amazon's DRM if they want a book on Kindle...but they can still sell elsewhere with other DRM.

http://thebookseller.com/news/us-indies-launch-drm-lawsuit.html

 

[BWFoster78]

Was there supposed to be a link?

 

[Steerpike]

Indeed. It is there now!

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

I'm with you, Steerpike. I'm not sure there's much merit to the case. I'm unclear why they are including Amazon, but not Apple, or Kobo, or B&N - all of whom also put DRM on their ebooks.

Also worth noting (as I am sure Amazon attorneys will) that they don't require DRM; they only put it on books when publishers tell them to. Many Amazon ebooks lack DRM. As for the claims of monopoly - hard to cry "monopoly" on a company whose market share has diminished from 90% to about 60% over the last three years.

I can't see courts ruling DRM is illegal. And I doubt the court could rule that only Kindle DRM is illegal without calling into question the legality of all other forms of DRM, from ebooks to music, computer games, DVDs... Messy.

 

[CupofJoe]

Isn’t the case more about “essential technologies”? I know there are some patents that are considered so fundamental to a technology that they have to be licensed and shared [mpeg coding is one - i think].
If there has to be a DRM system [okay a big "if"] then access to the DRM methodology needs to be available to all? I see that as the point of their case. The Store owners want people to buy the book from the smaller book-store whether they have a Sony, Nook, Kindle or Kobo, Tablet, e-reader or computer…

 

[Devor]

I'm confused. Why would removing DRM make it legal for them to sell somebody else's ebooks?

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

I'm confused. Why would removing DRM make it legal for them to sell somebody else's ebooks?

Right now, most epubs with DRM use Adobe's DRM system, which can be read (with difficulty, in some cases, but it usually does work) on most ereaders that read epubs. So you can at least in theory read a Google Play ebook with DRM on a Nook, for instance.

Kindle DRM is different. Anyone can sell a mobi file without DRM, and any Kindle can read that file. But the only files with DRM which a Kindle can read are ones produced by Amazon. Because the Kindle format is proprietary, and their DRM is proprietary, any publisher using DRM can ONLY sell books for Kindle on the Amazon website.

Most major publishers are still using DRM. Most people read ebooks do so on Kindle devices and apps.

Indie bookstores can sell Kobo books from in their stores, and get a small cut of the sales on each ebook. But Kobo can't sell ebooks with DRM that work on Kindle, most publishers still require DRM, so Kobo doesn't sell Kindle compatible files. Net result is indie bookstores can sell epubs for major books, but that's only ~30% of the market or so. Which means they're not able to sell to most potential readers.

For brick and mortar stores, it's more or less moot. People don't usually go into stores to buy ebooks. If they do, they're going to pull out a cell phone and download it from the retailer of their choice anyway.

It's a much bigger deal for the future possibility of indie ebookstores, however. For example, I could create a website to sell fantasy ebooks. Say I got known for being the BEST site on the internet for reviews of new fantasy works, and for news about fantasy fan stuff. I sold ebooks there, too. But so long as the major publishers still require DRM, I'd be stuck selling just epubs of all their books. I'd be unable to sell anything that would work on the devices/apps used by over 2/3 of the ebook market.

So, yeah. Publishers' insistence on DRM is cementing Amazon's market share for them, and preventing the growth of a vast array of vibrant specialty ebookstores growing up across the internet. I think it's a terrible move on their part.

 

[Devor]

Because the Kindle format is proprietary, and their DRM is proprietary, any publisher using DRM can ONLY sell books for Kindle on the Amazon website.

It's the exclusivity that I don't understand. You sell an ebook with DRM through Amazon, okay. But can't they also sell an ebook without Amazon's DRM elsewhere? Are the big six publishers really not selling ebooks through the Nook or through Apple? Shouldn't that be the point in the contract they're suing about?

 

[Steerpike]

It's the exclusivity that I don't understand. You sell an ebook with DRM through Amazon, okay. But can't they also sell an ebook without Amazon's DRM elsewhere?

Yes, they can. And if they sell it elsewhere without DRM, a Kindle user can get it from that other retailer and read it on her device. What they're complaining about is that took many people use Kindles, and since they can't sell books with Kindle DRM it isn't fair to them.

 

[Devor]

Yes, they can. And if they sell it elsewhere without DRM, a Kindle user can get it from that other retailer and read it on her device. What they're complaining about is that took many people use Kindles, and since they can't sell books with Kindle DRM it isn't fair to them.

That's why this seems ridiculous to me. DRM has nothing to do with their authority to sell a book or not. If publishers are demanding DRM, then sooner or later an alternative will arise. But from the publisher's standpoint, DRM is a product, and if an indie doesn't offer it, well, they have no legal recourse for that.

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

Devor, the issue is that *nobody* except Amazon can issue ebooks with DRM for Kindle devices/software. Anybody can sell epubs with DRM that most epub readers will read, but epub is a minority format, with perhaps as much as a third of the consumer market.

Publishers won't sell ebooks without DRM. Only Amazon can sell ebooks with DRM to Kindle users. Therefore, only Amazon can sell ebooks with DRM to roughly 2/3 of the people buying ebooks in the US.

Where the indie bookstores' argument is flawed is that they believe if they could offer Kindle-format ebooks that people would actually buy those books from them, instead of from Amazon. I think that would be significantly more difficult than they think it is.