Why this statement ';Not for sale in the united states or CANDA ';printed on the cover of some books ?

Hello every one ,


I wonder every time I see this statement '; Not for sale in the united states or Canada '; printed on the cover of some books . I want to know , what is that means and why this not fore sale ?!!??!Why this statement ';Not for sale in the united states or CANDA ';printed on the cover of some books ?
It was for copyright reasons. I don't believe it applies any more. There is a treaty about copyright, known as the Berne Convention, and countries who are signatories to it agree to give protection under their copyright laws to anything published in any other country that's signed the Convention.





Until 1989, the USA was not a signatory to the Convention, and it was legal (though obviously immoral) for someone in the USA to print copies of something that had been published outside the USA and keep all the profits for himself.





People outside the USA were understandably unhappy about this, and would print the statement that you've seen on books to stop them from falling into the hands of unscrupulous Americans. It didn't always work - there was an unauthorised American edition of The Lord of the Rings, which sold very well - but it let the would-be pirate know they were robbing the original author.





Nowadays, the USA is a signatory to the Berne Convention, so this type of action is illegal, and the warning shouldn't be necessary on more recent books.Why this statement ';Not for sale in the united states or CANDA ';printed on the cover of some books ?
The answer is in this site somewhere, but I didn't want to take the time to read the case law. It is a copyright issue and may have something to to with keeping prices/profits up in the US and Canada. Much like the prescription drug issue.