Digital fixation: the law and economics of a fixed e-book price external link

International Journal of Cultural Policy, vol. 23, num: 4, pp: 464-481, 2017

Abstract

Fifteen OECD countries, ten of which EU members, have regulation for fixing the price of printed books. At least eight of these have extended such regulation to e-books. This article investigates the cultural and economic arguments as well as the legal context concerning a fixed price for e-books and deals with the question of how the arguments for and against retail price maintenance for e-books should be weighted in the light of the evidence. It concludes that while the evidence in defence of a fixed price for printed books is slim at best, the case for a fixed price for e-books is weaker still while the legal acceptability within EU law is disputable. Against this background, introducing a fixed price for e-books is ill-advised.

agency pricing, e-books, fixed book price, frontpage, retail price maintenance, Technologie en recht, Technology and law

Bibtex

Article{Poort2017, title = {Digital fixation: the law and economics of a fixed e-book price}, author = {Poort, J. and van Eijk, N.}, url = {http://www.ivir.nl/publicaties/download/1586.pdf}, year = {0428}, date = {2017-04-28}, journal = {International Journal of Cultural Policy}, volume = {23}, number = {4}, pages = {464-481}, abstract = {Fifteen OECD countries, ten of which EU members, have regulation for fixing the price of printed books. At least eight of these have extended such regulation to e-books. This article investigates the cultural and economic arguments as well as the legal context concerning a fixed price for e-books and deals with the question of how the arguments for and against retail price maintenance for e-books should be weighted in the light of the evidence. It concludes that while the evidence in defence of a fixed price for printed books is slim at best, the case for a fixed price for e-books is weaker still while the legal acceptability within EU law is disputable. Against this background, introducing a fixed price for e-books is ill-advised.}, keywords = {agency pricing, e-books, fixed book price, frontpage, retail price maintenance, Technologie en recht, Technology and law}, }