130 years of promoting and protecting publishing

Fixed Book Price, explained

In a bid to bolster the province’s book industry, Quebec’s Minister of Culture has proposed to table a bill for a fixed book price (FBP) law. While many countries have adopted similar measures (notably France, which introduced a fixed book price in 1981) some view the notion of fixing book prices, rather than allowing them to be dictated by consumer demand, as anti-competitive and likely to do more harm than good.

Copyright concerns in Latin America

IPA Executive Committee members Ana María Cabanellas and Hugo Setzer and IPA Policy Director José Borghino attended the latest meeting of the Grupo Iberoamericano de editores (GIE) on 2 December, during the Guadalajara International Book Fair.

Congratulations, Incheon! Incheon, Korea, Elected World Book Capital 2015

Incheon was named as the “World Book Capital 2015” at the conclusion of the selection committee meeting, which as held recently at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters.

Incheon was selected “on account of the quality of its program, and the impact it will have on improving good integration of all stakeholders in the promotion of books and reading, access to books and writing in all formats to the citizens of Incheon and the Korean Peninsula during World Book Capital year and beyond”.

US Supreme Court Puts Low Cost Textbooks for Developing Countries at Risk

In Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, the US Supreme Court decided on 19 March 2013 that the “first sale” doctrine applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad. Consequently, an American publisher in the future may be unable to prevent the unauthorized importation into the United States of low cost editions of its textbooks produced for developing markets.