By Andrew Wilkins CANBERRA: Today, an intense year-long debate about the future of Australia’s publishing industry effectively came to an end with the announcement that the Australian government had rejected a proposal from its own think-tank to turn Australian into an open market for books. ”The Government has decided not to change the Australian regulatory regime for books … In …
Bonus Material: What Do You Think of Australia’s Decision?
Back in August, we asked you what you thought about the Australian Productivity Commission’s proposal to turn Australia into an open market for books. The overwhelming majority of responses were against the proposed changes. Today, that proposal was rejected by the Australian government. Was it the right decision or is the government stifling free-market competition? Tell us what you think …
Global Trade Talk: Big Book Awards, US Price Wars, Germany’s Scoyo for Sale
By Edward Nawotka and Siobhan O’Leary On Monday, Marie NDiaye won France’s Prix Goncourt for her novel Trois puissantes femmes (Three Strong Women). Meanwhile, this past Sunday, Nam Le was awarded Australia’s richest prize for fiction, the AUS $100,000 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction for his short story collection, The Boat. The non-fiction prize, which also carries a AUS $100,000 …
Aussie’s Take Two of Germany’s Top Children’s Prizes
By Tim Coronel Australian authors Shaun Tan and Marcus Zusak have been announced as winners in two of the major categories at the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis, Germany’s most prestigious awards for children’s and YA books. [Pictured: the display of Shaun Tan’s books at the Frankfurt Book Fair by his German publisher Carlsen] The awards ceremony, held on Friday night as part …
Could This Be the End of Territorial Copyright?
By Andrew Wilkins Frankfurt’s enduring relevance as an international rights fair is built to a great extent on the principle of territorial copyright—that invisible patchwork of rights territories that covers the globe. But what if there was no territorial copyright to enable publishers to safely invest in intellectual property in their own country, safe in the knowledge that another publisher …
Global Trade Talk: Zero Day “Compromise” on Aussie Parallel Import Laws; Stanford Publishing Program Shutters
By Edward Nawotka The Australian reports that Australian Competition Minister Craig Emerson has suggested a new “compromise” with regard to the proposed changes in parallel importation laws. Instead of eliminating import restrictions and forcing publishers to print an international title within 30 days of overseas release, the new plan would keep the import restriction in place, provided publishers put the …
The Most Hated Book Down Under
Editorial by Andrew Wilkins MELBOURNE: Australia is a nation of booklovers, but you won’t find many fans for a new Australian paperback, ISBN 9781740372817. In fact, there’s an argument for saying it’s “Australia’s Most Hated Book.” That’s because it’s a report by an Australian Government think-tank, the Productivity Commission, which recommends (among other things) the abolition of the copyright protections …
Bonus Material: Take Our Survey on Australian Copyright Reform
By Andrew Wilkins There is no time frame set for the proposals made by the Australian Productivity Commission to alter copyright protections, as outlined in our lead article, to become law. The next step is for Australia’s Assistant Treasurer to consider the proposal, which he’s indicated he’s in no hurry to do. The ruling Australian Labour Party has announced a …
Bonus Material: How Aussies Find the Best Book Deals
By Edward Nawotka While the recent recommendation by the Australian Productivity Commission seeking to lift the ban on parallel importation ultimately threatens to flood the country with cheap US and UK editions of books — the changes won’t take place for three years. At the moment it is still possible to get reasonably priced editions shipped from overseas. The biggest …