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their
it, different countries would be dependent on the willingness or ability of the original publisher to market titles in territory, which would at best be spasmodic. Through sub-licensing of rights to publish books, as with other forms of international trade, worldwide dissemination is achieved with efficient pricing and distribution systems to meet the cost and pricing structures of different territories.
6. For books, which are the subject of literary copyright, this international trading system is supported by the Berne Convention, under which each signatory state agrees to confer the exclusive right to reproduce the work within its territory on the author (or the author's assignees or licensees), So that they are able to enforce the exclusive reproduction rights in that territory. In the case of foreign authors from other signatory countries, that author's rights are protected on the same terms as national authors.
Without this separate exclusive publishing right in each signatory state, the act of licensing publishing in one country would be tantamount to licensing publishing in all countries, as the exercise of the exclusive right in a second country would be limited by the possible importation of copies from the first country, so undermining the investment in publishing and marketing in the second country. As a result, the ability to establish suitable publishing arrangements to meet the needs of the second country would be greatly reduced, to the detriment of wide availability of a wide variety of titles in that country. Thus, the ability to exercise the rights effectively would be undermined by, e.g. over-production or failure of a title elsewhere, fluctuations in exchange rates, or the creaming-off of sales of a successful title on the back of successful investment and promotion by the exclusive
exclusive publisher in the territory.
8. While such importation might seem to offer temporary benefits to consumers in the territory, for example lower prices because of fluctuating exchange rates ΟΙ,
on occasion, earlier availability, these advantages are likely to be very short term, being quickly eroded by diminution of local stockholding and promotion, erratic supply arrangements likely to concentrate only on proven bestsellers or remainders, and higher prices for most titles, particularly when local supply arrangements have collapsed as a result of the loss of exclusivity. This sequence of events is well documented from countries in which, for one reason or another, the ability to exercise exclusive publishing rights has been eroded, to the great detriment of local consumers. Further, such erosion leads to greatly reduced earnings for authors from their work.
9. Further, we do not believe that there is any sustainable evidence that the editions of books authorised by the copyright owner for sale in Hong Kong have been either excessively priced or unduly delayed for publication in Hong Kong, to the detriment of consumers. Indeed, over the years the British publishing industry,