Ah yes, the litteral destruction of culture and physical media for a centralised subscription service. I love the liberal world of techno enclosures of our new overlords, viva el free market economy.
scanning+ocr: 0.05 per page * 300 pgs: 15/bk
acquisition+disposal cost: 2.00/bk
total acq+scan+dispose = 425M
settlement value / bk: $3,000 [bartz v anthropic]
settlement probability, let's say 1%: 0.01
expected settlement / bk : $30
expected settlement total: 750M [industry-wide this is certainly an underestimate]
legal fees: 25% of settlement total: 187M
total 1.36B
+ operations, engineering, storage
> But what happens when sales numbers don't meet projections? The book is discounted. Then, at the publisher's discretion, the bookstore will receive a directive to rip the covers off the books, recycle the remainder of the book to be "pulped" or turned into other forms of paper, such as notebook paper and toilet paper. The bookstore is expected to mail the book covers to the publisher as evidence that the book has been destroyed.
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2016/09/1818064-se-n...
https://www.jornada.com.mx/2005/05/25/index.php?article=a04n...
https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/a-donde-van-libros-no-ve...
https://revistadossier.udp.cl/dossier/destruir-con-permiso/
Looks to me, going by this reporting, that LATAM treats books identically to the US (The first headline, translated, is literally "If not sold or donated, books can become toilet paper")