Ask HN: Why is Bowker's monopoly on ISBNs in the USA legal?

19 points by blindprogrammer 256 days ago | 12 comments

Apparently, this company has the sole right to issue ISBNs; no other company in the USA is legally allowed to do so. This is highly unusual, since it is a for-profit corporation, not a government agency. So I must be missing something—why is this possible?

Imagine if the government required car license plates, but instead of issuing them itself or through its affiliates, there was a parasitic middleman that the government required you to buy from. I know ICANN is somewhat similar, but ICANN is effectively a child of a U.S. defense agency, so it makes sense—and you can buy domains from multiple companies.

Why isn’t ISBN funded and run by a government agency, like the U.S. Trademark Office?

sdarji 255 days ago |

The SBN, later ISBN, system was not created by 'Merica. The SBN system was created by a professor as a commissioned work for WH Smith, a UK-based bookseller. Later the ISO took over and standardized the ISBN.

ISBNs are not legally required by the government, any more than a book is required to have a title. They are a convenience for getting a book out there in retail channels and have it be identifiable, trackable, etc.

Any other person or group is free to invent a new system and get everyone in the book industry to adopt it alongside or as a replacement for ISBNs.

The U.S. government is not making you get an ISBN for your book. Many books are published without one. But neither did the U.S. government step up in 1970 and offer to be the issuer, unlike in many other countries like India and Canada. So the U.S. is in the minority of countries where a for-profit company ended up getting the right to be the issuer for that country. Considering that the vast majority of books in the U.S. are published by huge for-profit publishers, it doesn't seem that bad to have them pay the issuer $30 for a ISBN if they want the convenience. It's a free country, so they are free to eschew the ISBN as well.

I guess if you feel so strongly about it, you can lobby Congress to buy out R.R. Bowker, make the Librarian of Congress the registrar offering ISBNs for free, so they can add to the so-called Deep State!

testing22321 256 days ago |

As a counterpoint, every Canadian gets 10 free ISBNs they can use. If they use those up (I’m close) they can buy more cheaply.

This is what a society looks like that isn’t run for the purpose of maximizing profit of companies.

Alive-in-2025 256 days ago | |

Sounds pretty scary. Next you'll tell me you can get semiglutide medications to lose weight cheaply, helping people to be healthier. Feels like anarchy.

testing22321 255 days ago | | |

Haha, even better, just be healthier and less stressed in the first place. No need for chemical intervention.

tacostakohashi 256 days ago |

Actually it's highly usual. Lots of things are like this, e.g. UPC numbers for barcodes, D&B / D-U-N-S numbers, CUSIPs.

The government doesn't require books to have ISBNs, so why should issuing them be the government's problem?

There's nothing to stop you from setting up your own, alternative book numbering system that nobody cares about if you think you can do a better job.

conditionnumber 256 days ago | |

> Actually it's highly usual... CUSIPs... there's nothing to stop you from setting up your own, alternative... numbering system

I don't think there's anything natural about the mandatory use of copyrighted CUSIP identifiers in regulatory reporting. When SEC publishes its quarterly list of 13F securities it includes a disclaimer that it does so "with permission" from the copyright holder. My city doesn't pay royalties or seek approvals when it records and processes car license plate numbers for parking enforcement. The copyright holder seems actively involved in rulemaking that has the potential to diminish the role CUSIPs play in mandatory regulatory reporting.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/proposals/comments/FR-00...

qazxcvbnmlp 256 days ago | |

Case in point: I have several technical manuals that look like books but have no ISBN numbers.

firehose 256 days ago | |

And app stores require DUNS numbers too, reinforcing D&B's power

testing22321 256 days ago | |

Do you know what the “I” in ISBN stands for?

There’s a whole world out there.

Xorakios 256 days ago |

Because they co-created the idea?

Trademarks and patents are enforced by governments. Unique identifiers for books was a marketing idea. You, me, anyone could create a new system and somebody probably will :)

slightwinder 255 days ago |

Is there a legal obligation to use ISBN? AFAIK it's a free choice of companies, for the single reason that it's beneficial. ICANN is similar, their services are optional, and the main complaint is that one country has too much control.

> Why isn’t ISBN funded and run by a government agency, like the U.S. Trademark Office?

ISBN is used globally, why should a US agency control it? Especially when it's not even originates from the USA?

riffic 256 days ago |

> ICANN is effectively a child of a U.S. defense agency

is it?