They have a monopoly on new copies, yes. But it's long-settled law in the US
that they do not have a monopoly on sales. It's been upheld time and
again, all the way to the Supreme Court, that if I bought a copy of a book I can
sell it to a used-book store and they can sell it to someone and the copyright
holder can't do a blessed thing about it as long as the used-book store isn't
making additional copies.
And I'd point out that as a purchaser I don't
buy from the publisher. I buy from the retailer. The retailer may have an
agreement with the publisher about how they'll sell things, but that's simply
Not My Problem as a purchaser. I can't be violating any agreement with the
publisher because I never made any agreement with them (if they believe I did
they're of course free to produce the written copy of said agreement with my
signature on it). [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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