The crux is, I suspect, under what circumstances ‘the direct quality effect balances the differential piracy effect’ (i.e. profits do not diminish due to piracy). Is there any concrete evidence of piracy effects for eBooks? The threat is always stronger than its execution, it’s said. In the absence of data, publishers seem likely to overestimate the effect. The Baen effect should really have been noted: does the model work for this publisher, too? — I wonder what other things the authors missed.

I probably need a refresher in business-speak (exogeneous prices?), but my immediate impression is that the authors show that publishers set different prices on eBooks largely depending on what digital rights the buyer is granted. (Have the authors written a more digestible version of the paper – an article on ‘DRM for dummies’, say – that could be used to disprove that impression?) But it does not seem to say a thing about what customers want, need or are prepared to pay for — except perhaps that publishers think that people who buy computer books should be prepared to pay more for the privilege. Customers seem absent — it’s clearly not their idea of value that is being examined.

Another thing that would be interesting to know is if any of the titles were sold with different rights for different price? Or are all titles sold with one single set of rights?

“Our paper … aims to guide managers facing piracy and rights management challenges.” Well, let *them* read it and pronounce verdict on the paper.