http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261185246637 are epub books licensed like kindle books?
Unless transfer of EPUB books tranfers some kind of single user DRM license, it appears to be quite illegal to do that (at least in the U.S.).
Surely simple copyright law protects a book in any form. I've someone on eBay UK selling 10,000 books for £10 http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-000-Eboo...K_iPad_Tablet_Accessories&hash=item5d3b968ff3 Literally ten-a-penny. I've wondered myself why eBay allows it. On the spiel it gives the impression that the books are old ones, but my sister has these discs and she says that many of the books are recent.
I have published ebooks so have a vested interest. If I purchase a paper book I am at liberty to sell it when I've read it, or to give it away to a friend. what I can't do is photocopy it, keep the original, and sell or give away the copy. It's a similar situation with ebooks. When I publish ebooks I can publish them in mobi, epup, or pdf formats. Anyone who buys my ebook is at liberty to pass it on to a single person when they have read it. What they can't do is copy the file, keep the original, and sell or give the copied file to someone else. In addition, some publishers (kobo, kindle, etc) may make the file difficult for anyone to copy onto other unregistered readers, but whether or not they do that the copyright law is the same. Give away the original. Copying is illegal.
How would you feel if someone copied your book and sold it on a DVD for a tenth of a cent? I must have a look at some of the books available on such discs. I don't know whether the ebay item I linked to has any copied copyright books, (I don't wish to libel anyone) My sister has let me copy one of her discs, and I'll have a look to see what's on there.
There's a difference between copying and selling. Selling your own property is legal, and can be sold for whatever cost you choose.
Well, agreed. But are you talking about legally produced disks? If so there are no problems reselling them, even if they make them in "unlimited" quantities. Are you talking about pirated disks? If so then anti-piracy laws come into play.
Legal? I don't know. I'm not posting from a position of higher knowledge. I'm repeating the question posed by the thread poster because I echo the mystification. It would seem likely that such publications are protected, but if these discs are illegal, why would eBay allow their sale? eBay are quite strict about people selling, for example, fake fashion items worth a few dollars. Why would they let people bulk-sell stolen books at a fraction of their cost? Maybe it is a loophole in the law. I don't know. Doesn't seem fair though.
Notice the seller is in Israel. Maybe the books aren't under copyright there? Or maybe someone bought the Israeli distribution rights really cheap?
It is illegal and unfortunately ebay let this happen all too often. I don't believe they're strict enough. I nearly got scammed recently and in the end i said i'm going to ring the person's mother and then they refunded me for a fraudulent item. It's unfortunate that ebay is a haven for scammers, fraudsters, and many criminals.
