Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick




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.

7 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Apr 25th, 2005 @ 1:34pm
  • Not surprising

    by Jeff

    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.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Apr 25th, 2005 @ 1:45pm
  • No Subject Given

    by Jim

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

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Apr 25th, 2005 @ 2:39pm
  • The books are "Electonic"

    by Sarah

    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

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Apr 26th, 2005 @ 11:04am
  • No Subject Given

    by Who would want these books??

    Wiley Books are the worst tech books ever written.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Jan 15th, 2006 @ 5:50pm
  • E Books

    by Kathleen Hill

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

    Thank you

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now.
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Plain Text HTML
Save me a cookie
  • Plain Text: A CRLF will be replaced by break <br> tag, all other allowable HTML is intact
  • HTML: No formatting of any kind is done without explicitly being written in
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <p> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
Close
Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now.
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Plain Text HTML Save me a cookie

Search Techdirt
And now, a word from our Sponsors..



Subscribe to Techdirt's Daily Email Newsletter

Techdirt's Daily Email Newsletter

Related Stories
Close
E-mail It