[ATTN Goodreads Experts] Bootleg paperbacks (i.e. made without publisher's permission)

[Drace]

Kind of an odd question here, and it’s going to require some explanation.

The sci-fi author Peter Watts has a novel called Blindsight that a lot of sci-fi fans really love. He offers a free download of an ISBN-less ebook edition of the book on his website. Unfortunately, it appears that a ton of people have taken advantage of this by using the ebook to upload bootleg Kindle editions of the book to Amazon without the publisher’s permission. These Kindle editions get removed from Amazon, but the Goodreads bot imports them. You can tell the bootlegs from the legitimate Kindle editions because they tend to have crappy edited cover art, no publisher listed, and a date that does not correspond with any actual release date connected to legitimate editions of the book. Some examples:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... (whoever uploaded this bootleg doesn’t know how to spell “writer” apparently)

I know from a previous thread I made in this folder earlier this year that Jaclyn responded to that bootleg Kindle editions such as these should get deleted: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Here’s the big question. It appears that people have also been creating bootleg paperback editions of Blindsight using self-publishing services in order to scam some money off of people who don’t realize they aren’t getting the legitimate edition from the publisher. And as part of the self-publishing process, they have automatically been assigned ISBNs even though these editions are not from the author or publisher and probably violating the hell out of some kind of copyright. Some examples:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

My question is: how does Goodreads handle bootleg editions? Since they weren’t made with the publisher’s permission and they’re not public domain, do they get deleted, or do they get left on the site since they already have ISBNs?

(I know Jaclyn is off the forums until further notice, but I’m thinking about putting the ATTN: Jaclyn bit in the title in case she sees this thread once she’s back.)

[Renske]

Legal issues should be send to the staff.

[Drace]

I'm admittedly a bit hesitant to because (as seen in the other thread I linked) the last time I did that, staff apparently did not understand the question I was asking and gave a completely irrelevant answer. Jaclyn had to step in and ask staff to get their input.

[Marcela]

This is not a Librarians Group issue.

For this query please use the Contact Us page to reach out to support (http://www.goodreads.com/about/contac...).

[Drace]

I did some digging and apparently the free ebook of Blindsight was released under a Creative Commons license, so technically these Kindle editions and shoddy paperbacks are legit, even if they aren't from the original author or publisher. No need to touch any of them.