PT Journal
AU Oprysk, L
   Matulevičius, R
   Kelli, A
TI Development of a Secondary Market for E-books: The Case of Amazon
SO JIPITEC
PY 2017
BP 128
EP 138
VL 8
IS 2
DE Amazon; Copyright; digital exhaustion; digital single market; e-books
AB The justification of applying the exhaustion doctrine to intangible copies of copyright protected works is widely discussed in scholarly circles. The discussion mainly concerns the relevant provisions of the international treaties and rationale of the exhaustion doctrine under EU law. However, little attention is paid to the question regarding how the potential outcome is comparable to the one exhaustion brings in the analogue world. This article goes beyond the theoretical legal discussion and presents a case study of e-books disseminated through Amazon. The authors analyse the legal, technological and organisational challenges of creating a secondary market. In line with the identified challenges, this paper presents two scenarios based on the particular circumstances observed at the Amazon distribution solutions. The first presupposes the creation of a limited secondary market within Amazon. The second enables a broad secondary market of e-books purchased through different channels, including Amazon. The two scenarios could potentially be combined to achieve a secondary market of e-books in a controlled manner. This would allow vendors to keep nearly the same degree of control over distributed copies while serving consumer interests and creating the Digital Single Market.
ER