Despite slow start, ebooks gain ground in Europe

Electronic books, which have sparked excited chatter for several years in the publishing world, are now gaining momentum among European readers, despite a late start compared to the US, industry insiders say.

Japan's Rakuten to buy Canada's Kobo e-reader firm

Japan's top online retailer Rakuten on Wednesday said it had agreed to pay $315 million in cash for Kobo Inc., the maker of a popular e-reader in Canada whose majority shareholder is book retailer Indigo.

Digital piracy casts shadow over ebook world

With electronic books growing in popularity, the publishing world focuses on fighting the threat of digital book pirates, much as the music industry once did with illegal downloading.

'Enhanced ebooks' take giant book fair by storm

Is it a book? Is it a film? Is it a game? Or all three? Publishers and authors at the world's biggest book fair are battling to entice a new generation of readers with the latest multimedia products.