Amazon caught selling counterfeits of publisher’s computer books–again
Amazon caught selling counterfeits of publisher’s computer books—again

                      
                      
          Bill Pollock, the founder of the tech how-to book publisher No Starch Press, called out Amazon on February 13 for selling what he says are counterfeit copies of his company's book, The Art of Assembly Language—copies that Amazon apparently printed.

Just discovered today a new case of copyright infringement directly by AMAZON'S CREATESPACE. Not the first time! This is obviously NOT printed by No Starch. Kindly report any other cases to us. Please RT and share. @amazon @nostarch pic.twitter.com/ayjebwTiOI
— Bill Pollock (@billpollock) February 2, 2019

One of the Amazon printed fakes. Note the poor spine wrapping. @nostarch pic.twitter.com/3pcm0BYVHN
— Bill Pollock (@billpollock) February 12, 2019

    
              
                
              
                Even the photo for the book's main listing on the Amazon marketplace is of a fake, showing a misaligned spine image.
                              
            
                  
          
    
    
      Even the photo for the book's main listing on the Amazon marketplace is of a fake, showing a misaligned spine image.

          
  
        
            

After Pollock's post on Twitter on Wednesday, other people posted pictures of other No Starch books that had been counterfeited through Amazon, including books that had pages poorly cut. What's even crazier is that this isn't the first time this has happened.
In 2017, Pollock got reports of Amazon selling counterfeit copies of Python for Kids, a popular children's introduction to programming, and four other No Starch titles. The books were easy to distinguish from No Starch's production runs because of the poorer quality of the paper and binding, changes likely resulting from Amazon's print-on-demand production.

Images of counterfeit copies of Python for Kids being sold on Amazon. Legit copies are thicker, color, layflat binding, nicer paper. @amazon pic.twitter.com/P1tRBnKcvc
— Bill Pollock (@billpollock) March 21, 2017
Amazon markets the service to publishers as a way to have "100 percent availability of books" internationally, and the company has enrolled a number of publishers. The  service is part of Amazon's CreateSpace offering, which allows content creators to self-publish both electronically (through Kindle) and in print. Authors and publishers are forced to police Amazon's marketplace themselves for counterfeit books—and the same is true of other products sold through Amazon.

          
                      
                  