"What it will take to level the playing field?" I think the only way to win is to sell a better product. I've occasionally downloaded pirated versions of books which aren't available as e-books and I already own as a physical book. The recently-interviewed pirates' claims to the contrary, they're pretty much all crap wrt editing for OCR errors and formatting.

Legally sold ebooks have the benefit of actually compensating the author, something pirated versions can never do. I believe readers actually care about that. If legal ebooks compete on DRM-freedom (as E-Reads' do) and on editing & formatting (where E-Reads' could use some work…), then pirated ebooks won't have a chance with actual potential customers.

This is quite outrageous, because they are in effect saying: "This person is to blame for the removal of the free read you were enjoying, and here is how to contact them."

EBay promises to contact "the copyright owner" if a member of the public complains about an alleged infringement.

Good. So, I complained once because I saw a friend's e-book, and I know that she had been infringed upon.

EBay contacted a used-paperback bookseller in the UK. Not the author. Not the author's agent. Not the publisher.

How can you deal with such ignorance?

It would help if every site had a "Report This" button so that members of the public can draw attention to a suspicious listing or group.

As it is, anyone can post a link and post factually untruthful assertions about copyright to mislead the public.

Pirates are most likely to get away with the piracy because the host site requires the author or her agent or publisher to discover the infringement and report it.

What are the chances? How many productive busy authors spend time scrolling through every auction on every auction site, and every post on every Yahoo group?

Why do the rights of uploaders take precedence over the rights of authors?

How likely is it that someone posting under a cryptic name is in fact Sherrilyn Kenyon AND Stephen King AND Stephanie Meyers?

Doesn't common sense suggest that these three authors are different people, and that if they wanted to sell their ebooks on EBay, they'd make more money doing it under their own names, and offering to autograph the CDs?

If an auction only lasts for a day or two, but the time an author with a loyal following might be alerted, and submits her proper take down notice, the auction is over, and the pirate has his profit.