The comments of Howard Prouty, proprietor of ReadInk, with regard to California AB1570.  
All opinions expressed on this page are my own, and do not imply endorsement by either the ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America) or the IOBA (Independent Online Booksellers Association).

The first and most important thing to understand about AB1570 is that its creation and passage was entirely in reaction to the rampant growth, in recent years, of the marketplace for “collectibles,” many of which are represented by their sellers as bearing the autographs of athletes or other celebrities.  This area of commerce, much of which takes place over the internet through websites such as eBay, has become a multi-billion-dollar business, and has proven itself exceptionally vulnerable to forgery.  Forgery of the autographs of famous individuals, perpetrated by the unscrupulous for the sole purpose of entrapping the unwary (for profit) is nothing new, of course, but thanks to numerous factors – chief among them the scope and scale of commerce made possible by the internet, as well as today’s sophisticated and readily available technologies for copying and reproduction – this particular area of fraudulent business activity has undergone exponential growth in recent years. 

It is well understood that the most fertile ground for this type of fraud is in the area of sports and entertainment memorabilia.  It has been well documented that a substantial percentage of the items sold in this area are out-and-out fakes; see, for example, the books Operation Bullpen: The Inside Story of the Biggest Forgery Scam in American History by Kevin Nelson, or Fake: Forgery, Lies, & eBay by Kenneth Walton.  Both these books were published in 2006, and those who pay attention to these things agree that the situation has only worsened in the intervening decade.  This was the impetus behind CA AB1570, written by Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, with the encouragement and participation of actor Mark Hamill, of STAR WARS fame, who has for some time been the public face of the campaign to “do something” about the proliferation of memorabilia with forged autographs – including his own.

But here’s the rub.  This law was conceived and written specifically to regulate the marketplace for autographed sports and entertainment memorabilia, as is perfectly clear from both its prescribed methodologies and its language.  At the same time, however, it is just as clear that no consideration whatsoever was given to any possible “spillover” into other areas – and unfortunately it was written carelessly enough, and with such broad strokes, that it has unintentionally intruded itself into another area of business, namely the trade in used and rare books.

The collecting of books that have been inscribed and/or signed by their authors is a time-honored collecting practice, but there is an important difference between this area of collecting (and commerce) and that involving sports and entertainment memorabilia.  With the latter, it is the very presence of the signature of an athlete or other celebrity that is the primary driving force of that marketplace.  When it comes to used, rare and collectible books, however, the vast majority of those sold and collected have not been inscribed or autographed by their authors; to put it another way, the sale of signed/autographed books is but a small part of the overall used/rare book marketplace.
Furthermore: historically, most booksellers have disdained the use of “certificates of authenticity,” taking the attitude that (to coin a phrase) they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.  What does matter, and which booksellers take very seriously, are two things: (1) their reputations; and (2) their willingness to guarantee the authenticity and accurate representation of their wares, to the extent of offering a full refund on any item they sell, should the customer, at any time in the future, become convinced that said item is not, in fact, as it was represented by the seller – whether that means that some doubt arises about the genuineness of a signature, or because an edition or printing has been mis-identified by the seller, or if some undisclosed flaw or damage might be discovered upon inspection by the buyer.  These warranties and guarantees are codified in the Codes of Ethics of the two organizations of which ReadInk is proud to be a member in good standing: the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) and the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA).  [Direct links to these Codes can be found on this website’s homepage.]

Under the name ReadInk, I have been in the business of selling used and rare books since 1997.  In that time, I have sold hundreds (if not thousands) of signed and/or inscribed copies of books, and not a single one has had any question raised as to the authenticity of the signature or inscription.  I am proud of this record, which stretches back long before my membership in either IOBA or ABAA (the latter dating from 2011).  I have never offered for sale any signed or inscribed book in which I’ve had even the slightest doubt about the authenticity of the signature, except for a handful of instances in which the book itself (even without a signature) was of a sufficiently rare or collectible nature – and always, in such cases, accompanied by a prominently-stated caveat about the signature/inscription not being fully authenticated. 

Now, to the practical part of this little screed, to address the fact that as of this writing (January 2017), California law requires me to supply a “Certificate of Authenticity” to any purchaser – whether within or outside the state – of a signed or autographed book from my inventory.  In response to that, I have crafted my own version of a CoA, which (1) goes as far as I feel I can comfortably and ethically go towards compliance with the law, (2) clearly states my own pledge to only offer material which I believe to be authentic (in line with the aforementioned Codes of Ethics of the bookselling organizations to which I below), backed by a full money-back guarantee, and (3) also contains, printed on its reverse side, a rather extensive “disclaimer” which touches on many of the same points covered here.  One of these certificates will accompany every purchaser of a signed or inscribed book from my inventory, until such time as this ridiculous law is amended or repealed.

Speaking of amendment and/or repeal: beginning almost as soon as the rare bookselling community became aware of this law and of its potential detrimental effects on our trade, efforts began on two fronts: (1) to raise public awareness about the issue, and (2) to communicate with California lawmakers, and begin to work towards the goal of having the law modified or amended in order to make explicit that it does not apply to booksellers.  (The latter point has already been conceded by the bill’s author, in a statement dated October 18, 2016.)  Here are some links that will lead you to additional information and analysis of the issue, as well as to a petition that you can sign in support of the amendment/repeal efforts:

http://tinyurl.com/zyu4r34  [an article from the Fine Books & Collections blog; also contains a reproduction of Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang’s statement regarding the law’s non-applicability to booksellers]

http://eurekabooksellers.com/ab1570-in-plain-english/  [a helpful, non-jargon-laden explanation of the law]

http://tinyurl.com/zm8xp2c   [the petition]