電子書籍企業撤退時已經買下的書籍會消失

Last month the Asahi News on-line reported the following:

買ったはずの蔵書が消える　電子書籍、企業撤退相次ぎ

2014年1月30日18時24分

　せっかく買い集めた蔵書が消える――。電子書籍の世界で、紙の本ではありえない事態が起こり始めた。電子書籍は買っても「自分の物」にならない契約が多く、企業の撤退などで読めなくなるケースがあるからだ。電子書店は乱立状態で、「撤退は今後も続く」（出版関係者）可能性がある。事業者に説明責任を求める声も強まりそうだ。

　電子書籍事業から撤退するローソンの異例の対応が話題になっている。２月下旬のサービス終了に伴い、これまでの購入者全員に対し、購入額の相当分を、ローソンなどで現金と同じように使えるポイントで還元すると発表したからだ。

　同サービスは、ネットを通じてサーバーに置かれた書籍を読むという仕組み。どこでも「購入」した書籍を読めるのが利点だったが、サービスが終了すると書籍は消えてしまう。

(試譯文)

     Books which you bought with much trouble for collection would disappear - a situation began to surface in the world of digital books where books bought were without paper. It was because many contracts stipulated that even if one had bought a digital book it did not become "your own property" and there was a situation that it became impossible to read it due to the closure of the company etc. The electronic bookstores were now in a flooding state and there was a possibility that their “withdrawal would continue” (the publication people concerned). The voice to ask the entrepreneur for accountability was also likely to become strong.

    The exceptional response of Lawson’s withdrawal from the digital book enterprise had become the center of attention. It was because they would end their service in late February, and announced that all the previous purchase would be refunded to buyers in point form which could be used like cash at Lawson etc.

    The same was for the service of the mechanism that provided reading book service in the server through the network. Although there was an advantage that the books "purchased" could be read anywhere, when the service was ended, the book would disappear.

It is a new problem for the digital book company owners to tackle.