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Copyright Lobby Targets "Pirate Bay For Books"

Posted by samzenpus on from the what-about-the-library dept.

An anonymous reader writes "TTVK, a Finnish national copyright lobby, is threatening a book rental service called Bookabooka for allegedly running the 'Pirate Bay for Books.' Bookabooka however does not offer a torrent tracker service, nor does it enable a user in any way to download eBooks; it simply provides a place for book owners to rent textbooks to each other via the traditional mail service. It is mandatory that all textbooks must be originals. The service is used by a lot of School and University students, and it does not handle the shipping or returns of the textbooks. Nevertheless, the Finnish book publishers' association (Suomen Kustannusyhdistys) is convinced the service is breaching the copyright laws and threatening their business. TTVK has given Bookabooka until Friday to cease operations or face a lawsuit. Bookabooka's founders have vowed to keep the service online and ignore the threat."

7 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. Who needs to hunt down textbooks in Finland? by CRCulver · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Speaking as a student at the University of Helsinki, nearly all textbooks I need are offered by one of the libraries, who keeps a number of copies of each textbook around so that students can take them out, do the course, and then return them at the end of the semester. Until I read this, I never imagined that university students in this country ever have a hard time getting access to textbooks and would need some kind of outside service like that.

    1. Re:Who needs to hunt down textbooks in Finland? by petermgreen · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't understand how this works. If this was the case, what incentive would the professor have to require four of his books and never use them in the course?
      I see americans on /. talk about this as if it's a normal thing. Maybe it is in the USA, that doesn't mean it is everywhere.

      At least on my course ( electronic systems engineering at manchester in the uk ) with a combination of good handouts and a reasonable library there is little need to purchase books. I think i've purchased one textbook so far on my course (and i've nearly finished said course)

      The one time i've noticed a lecturer putting one of his own books on the "reccomended books" list he made sure there were plenty of copy of copies in the library, printed a large chunk of the content for us free in the form of a handout and basically explicitly advised us not to buy it.

      Very strange system you guys have there.
      I have to say I think the american system which drives students into insane ammounts of debt both directly with fees and with very high other expenses is pretty strange/fucked up.

      I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
  2. Is this even illegal? by eyal0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the USA, reselling a book is totally legal. I imagine that renting one is, too. Which part of the copyright law are they accused of breaking?

  3. Re:Wait... by 91degrees · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But even if it did, what difference does it make?

    You can't make arbitrary demands on a purchaser after the purchase. What if it said "You agree to pay the author a subscription to continue using this book after a year"?

  4. Re:Coming from an author... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Arthur Clarke used to say that if anybody sent him a book to sign (and send back) he would just give it to a local library. He may lose a sale by doing that but it is more likely he will gain a sale. When I was young I mainly read library books, and books borrowed from other sources. I only bought books when I had the money, which wasn't very often.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  5. Re:Wait... by jsiren · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In Finland authors get compensated for library loans of their books ("kirjastokorvaus"). It's recognized that copies in public libraries account for some lost sales, so a small compensation is paid.

    About DVD rentals: It seems that the rental DVD itself is no different from a purchase copy, but it comes with a "permission to rent." Should I happen to lose or destroy the disc, I would be charged something like 45 to 90 e (asked a movie rental place once). I don't know if that's the real price or if the shop has an insurance that pays for the rest - or if it's an incentive not to lose the DVD...

    --
    Usage: km/h for speed (kilometers per hour); kph for very slow impulses (kilopond hours).
  6. Re:Coming from an author... by mspohr · · Score: 4, Interesting
    When you send something to somebody in the mail, you are giving it to them. They can do anything they want with it. It is no longer your property.

    This is firmly established in the US because companies used to send unsolicited merchandise to people and then demand payment. They sent it to you, you can keep it.

    --
    I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?