Friday, January 18, 2008
Thetans
A book for a customer has just arrived from the states. Looks a doozy and I bet we could sell a few if I put it in the window. Unfortunately it has 'NOT FOR SALE IN THE UK AND IRELAND' emblazened across the back. Should I risk it? Knowing the subjects litigious nature I just can't. Any passing Hubbard devotee is going to get the lawyers on us pronto. Bugger.
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Rather sad demonstration of the difference between a constitutional right to the freedom of speech and the pernicious effect of our own libel laws. How do you libel the Church of Scientology? Stock and be damned!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that more to do with good old money and the licensing of US books than libel?
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps if the books have come from the US, they haven't been taken to their requisite landing station on Venus. Perhaps you need to get in touch with the Venusians and open an account...
Just sell it as a used copy. Should be no problem even cross out what it says on the back.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the previous poster, except for the recommendation about 'crossing out' the notice. My understanding is that these sort of 'restrictions' on book distribution are intended to prevent large scale gray market trans-shipment of books in order to protect regional publishing rights. Individual and/or small batches of copies like this should not be an issue commercially and certainly not worth UK publisher's time and trouble to ferret out the books' origins. This seems especially so if the book currently has no UK distribution. I think this relates somewhat to the sort of discussions that have gone on among US booksellers about the legal and ethical issues surrounding the sale of advance reading copies and uncorrected proofs to collectors. As a movie fan, I regularly purchase out-of-region DVDs because the films either are not in distribution at all in the US or else the region 2 or region 4 disks have signficant differences from the US (i.e., region 1) versions
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