The US giant of online sales was not present at the Frankfurt Book Fair, but Amazon was on everyone's lips following the announcement of the offer of unlimited access to the e-books in its catalog in exchange for a modest subscription monthly.
“We fear that unfair competition will develop against other operators and that this will also damage copyrights”, commented the Austrian writer Gerhard Ruiss during a round table held at the Fair. “Amazon does not have the market it would have liked in Europe. That is the reason for this offer”.
Ruiss is one of two thousand German-language writers to have signed a petition against the methods used by the Seattle giant in its price battle against the Scandinavian Bonnier, one of the most important publishing houses present in the German market. The authors also accused Amazon of delaying the release of titles and boycotting writers under contract to publishers with whom Amazon has ongoing legal disputes.
Germany is Amazon's largest market outside the United States, but the company has been hurt by repeated walkouts in a long-running wage dispute and the airing of a documentary on German television that was less than good for the giant's image. 'e-commerce.
