Copyright and textbook rentals

A company started two years ago to save students money by renting textbooks says publishers are trying to block the business because they fear the kind of market disruption that has occurred in the US, as reported in an article in the smh.com.au.

The publishers counter-claim the start-up has infringed their copyright.

Zookal was set up in 2011 when chief executive Ahmed Haider, 27, and four fellow students from the University of Technology, Sydney, saw profit potential in renting out textbooks for a semester at half the cost or less of buying them. Many textbooks cost about $100 and students doing a three-year degree spend at least $3000 on them, it is estimated.

After raising $1.5 million in venture capital, Zookal claims to be increasing its revenue by 200 per cent a year and aims to rent out its millionth book within three years.

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