International Edition: Not for sale in Australia, Canada, Japan, UK/Europe or USA?

I bought a textbook online at half.com. It is a hardback nutrition textbook and it had this disclaimer on it.


What, (besides the obvious) does this mean?


More to the point, why?


This book is 120 at list price, I paid 59 (included shipping)International Edition: Not for sale in Australia, Canada, Japan, UK/Europe or USA?
I hate stating the obvious, but it just means the book can't be sold in those countries. The money doesn't go to the publishing house and/or author, but rather it goes to the seller. It violates some rights of the publisher/author, but I'm not clear how. Also, I think if you have problems with the book (like it's missing pages or something), you can't return it to the publisher; you'd have to go to the distributor. Can't be too sure about all this, though. I work in publishing, but I pay attention to the words, not the money. :)