iPad Euro launch may challenge agency e-book model

European publishers are deliberately holding off on joining Apple's iBookstore due to potentially serious legal issues, publishers said on Thursday. Where the US iPad launched with nearly all major publishers onboard, Apple's insistence on an agency pricing model -- where it takes a fixed cut but lets publishers set the price -- could violate British laws. An FT contact likened it to "price fixing by the back door" in the UK interpretation.

Much of the worry centers around a 1990 law that prevented publishers and others from setting their own minimum prices. The terms wouldn't be issues by themselves, but Apple's contractual requirement that it won't be undercut at other stores sets a minimum barrier that could run afoul of legal requirements.

Apple may nonetheless have an edge over Amazon in Europe through its more flexible approach to regional currency. The Kindle store abroad simply charges in US dollars and, on international Kindle devices, carries a premium for using the 3G network outside of the US. The iBookstore, like iTunes, is adapted to each local market and uses pounds sterling, euros or other local money; it also doesn't carry a premium for downloading an e-book over 3G from an iPad. At least two major but unnamed publishers have signed on with Apple as a result of that accommodation.

When it launches, the iBookstore will regardless be relatively empty compared to the US store as it will mostly carry public domain books old enough to no longer have copyright.

By Electronista Staff