Digitally binding: Examining the feasibility of charging a fixed price for e-books
Abstract
Legal price fixing for printed books in the Dutch and Frisian languages was introduced in the Netherlands in 2005. Publishers today are required to fix retail prices for new books and retailers are required to charge the prices set. Fixed prices are valid for an indefinite period, but publishers are permitted to adjust them after a period of six months and to discard the fixed price altogether after a year. The Resale Price Maintenance (Books) Act (Wet op de vaste boekenprijs) seeks to contribute towards a large and varied stock and wide geographic availability of books, as well as towards public participation (purchasing and reading habits). With the emergence of e-books, the question arises as to whether it would be possible and desirable to introduce legally enforced price fixing for digital books too. This study examines the feasibility and enforceability of resale price maintenance (RPM) for e-books and analyses the functionality in terms of the degree to which it contributes to pluralism and the broad availability of supply, the market structure of the book business and the diversity and availability of print books.
Competition law, Mededingingsrecht
Bibtex
Report{nokey,
title = {Digitally binding: Examining the feasibility of charging a fixed price for e-books},
author = {Akker, I. and Rutten, P. and van der Sloot, B. and van Eijk, N. and Poort, J.},
url = {http://www.ivir.nl/publicaties/download/Digitally_binding.pdf},
year = {0309},
date = {2012-03-09},
abstract = {Legal price fixing for printed books in the Dutch and Frisian languages was introduced in the Netherlands in 2005. Publishers today are required to fix retail prices for new books and retailers are required to charge the prices set. Fixed prices are valid for an indefinite period, but publishers are permitted to adjust them after a period of six months and to discard the fixed price altogether after a year. The Resale Price Maintenance (Books) Act (Wet op de vaste boekenprijs) seeks to contribute towards a large and varied stock and wide geographic availability of books, as well as towards public participation (purchasing and reading habits). With the emergence of e-books, the question arises as to whether it would be possible and desirable to introduce legally enforced price fixing for digital books too. This study examines the feasibility and enforceability of resale price maintenance (RPM) for e-books and analyses the functionality in terms of the degree to which it contributes to pluralism and the broad availability of supply, the market structure of the book business and the diversity and availability of print books.},
keywords = {Competition law, Mededingingsrecht},
}