Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

German Court Fixes Book Prices On Ebay

Posted by timothy on from the road-to-serfdom dept.

krez writes "Yesterday, a German court decided that it is illegal to sell books below the prices set by publishing houses. In the court's view, German books are exempt from EU free-market restrictions because they represent an "important cultural good". I guess this is what happens when the rights of collectives, and groups of peoples supersede the rights of the individual to do with his property as he/she sees fit. The implications of this could be far reaching, having an impact on your right to sell old CDs, DVDs, perhaps even art?"

2 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. nothing new at all by fluxmov · · Score: 5, Informative

    The German "Buchpreisbindung" (fixed prices for professional sellers) has been in effect for a long time. It has nothing to do with DVDs etc. The only "new" thing about it is the court's decision that it's also valid for eBay, which doesn't really come as a surprise.

  2. Re:i can see it now. by Apiakun · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great idea :) "We are not offering the following unreleased album in mp3 format. We are simply providing a collection of ones and zeros with which you can test your ISP's downstream connection. We insist that you not save this data upon completion of the network bandwidth test."