Is it legal to sell Low Price Editions (International Edition) of Text
Books and General topic books in USA? I am specifically asking about
the reprints made in India. For instance, the Prentice-Hall of Inida
(http://www.phindia.com/index.php) Reprints books in India for
students. If we buy those books in India and sell them in USA, is it
Legal?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 09 Feb 2005 19:18 PST

I can't see any reason why you couldn't bring the books in the US and
sell them here.  Books published outside the US are routinely imported
and sold here.

The Prentice-Hall of India site itself notes that it ships its books
internationally, and does not indicate any sort of restriction for
shipping to the US for most of its books (although there are a few
exceptions, probably due to licensing restrictions -- you would have
to check with PHIndia themselves about that aspect).

As for bringing the books into the US for commercial sale, you would
have to comply with Customs/import regulations.

Are you looking for information about importing books into the US?

Let us know.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by mabbasi934-ga on 09 Feb 2005 23:55 PST

Yes, my intent is to import text books on small scale and sell them in
USA. I was not sure whether importing such books is going to violate
some law (since these books already have american editions which are
far more expensive). I am just concerned about the legalitly of
selling such books.

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Clarification of Question by mabbasi934-ga on 10 Feb 2005 12:51 PST

I have some more clarificatino to put to this question. Please do not
put the answer yet. I am going to home in a couple of hours and put
some more clarification for your review which is going to help you a
lot. There is a specific sentence written in those books that caught
my attention last night. Please hold on to your reply so that i don't
get charged yet.

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Clarification of Question by mabbasi934-ga on 10 Feb 2005 19:46 PST

Alright, I am back. These books which I am refering to (Low Price or
International Edition) has this sentence written on it "This edition
is manufactured in India and is authorized for sale only in India,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives." If we buy
these books in India and sell them here, is that legal? I went to ebay
and amazon and some people do sell these editions. Last year, at
answers.google.com somebody asked a same kind of question, and the
reply was kind of complicated. You can look at that article with this
subject: "Selling International versions of textbooks to US
consumers." Since this question was asked last year ago, I am
wondering if some laws have changed about this. I hope this helps you.

I would think it would not go very well with PH and most probably is
not legal as well - but I am not a legal expert.

But I would say go ahead, everyone should be getting books cheaper
(mind you the cost for an india is still steep)

I don't think you will get a better answer than the one you mentioned:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=295219

I doubt that the law has changed significantly since that answer was
posted, though I don't know that for sure.

In researching this question, I found many news stories about students
buying books directly from overseas, such as from amazon.co.uk.  Many
of these stories also mentioned bookcentral.com as a seller of
international editions.  That site is still in business, but doesn't
seem to plug international editions.

I also found a few press releases from Pearson Education about
lawsuits they won against sellers of international editions.  For
example:

http://www.pearsoned.com/pr_2004/081604.htm

My impression was that in these cases, the sellers went beyond just
selling international editions.  For example, in the case reported in
the link above, the sellers represented the books as American editions
to customers.