As I understand it, it's not illegal to purchase something from somewhere else as a citizen/resident of not-there, but it's certainly frowned upon -- mostly because it's a way to circumvent customs, taxes, and areas of distribution. For the most part, though, those kinds of rules really only come into major effect if you're doing it in bulk -- then they think you're doing it specifically to get around those taxes, possibly even reselling. But no, not illegal, per se.
However, the problem with ebooks is that they don't appear to have the same issues about internat'l distribution as trad-pubs. That is, trad-pubs crack down hard on international distribution because it means they're not going to be able to sell the rights, then, to have the book translated into that country's language (yes, including going from "American-English" to "British-English". Complete with different covers and names... ffffttt). But nearly every ebook publisher with submission guidelines that talk about rights, etc, don't mention "First North American Rights," like you'd see elsewhere. They just talk about "distribution" in general -- and I've always been under the impression that strictly-ebook publishers (not t-pubs masquerading as epubs, mind you) pretty much assume that any sales will/can potentially be international. So those extra distribution rights... not really an issue.
I dunno. I think I may drop a line to someone who works in the management side of an ebook distribution company, and ask, because now I'm really curious.
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Date: 15 Jun 2009 04:52 am (UTC)However, the problem with ebooks is that they don't appear to have the same issues about internat'l distribution as trad-pubs. That is, trad-pubs crack down hard on international distribution because it means they're not going to be able to sell the rights, then, to have the book translated into that country's language (yes, including going from "American-English" to "British-English". Complete with different covers and names... ffffttt). But nearly every ebook publisher with submission guidelines that talk about rights, etc, don't mention "First North American Rights," like you'd see elsewhere. They just talk about "distribution" in general -- and I've always been under the impression that strictly-ebook publishers (not t-pubs masquerading as epubs, mind you) pretty much assume that any sales will/can potentially be international. So those extra distribution rights... not really an issue.
I dunno. I think I may drop a line to someone who works in the management side of an ebook distribution company, and ask, because now I'm really curious.