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The "Lang Law" [0][1] (Lang is in reference to Jack Lang who proposed it, as opposed to language) isn't meant to stop price gouging. It's to stop larger book se
by xemoka 14y ago
The "Lang Law" [0][1] (Lang is in reference to Jack Lang who proposed it, as opposed to language) isn't meant to stop price gouging. It's to stop larger book sellers from being able to make special deals with publishers for bulk purchase discounts.
It stipulates that the publisher's book price on the back may only be discounted up to a further 5% by the retail store.
There are also other fixed book price laws [2] around the world.
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lang_Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lang_Law - English version
[1] http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loi_Lang http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loi_Lang - French and more information
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_Book_Price_Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_Book_Price_Law
- jlgreco 14y agoI see. I suppose I understand that, even if I don't agree it is good. However I can't wrap my mind around why he would simultaneously want Humble Bundle to raise their price to "protect" local bookstores and want them to license the books with permissive licenses that permit free redistribution. Would he presumably be okay with the Humble Bundle if they were non-commercially distributing the books for only free with permissive licenses? Wouldn't that cause even more harm than merely allowing people to pay what they want? Or does he want the privileges granted by permissive licenses, but doesn't want Humble Bundle to have the same?