From the issue dated April 2, 2004
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Don't Steal This BookTextbook piracy runs rampant in developing countries, costing publishers and authors millions of dollars
In many classrooms around the world, students use textbooks published in the United States or Britain. That's good for the prestige of American and British scholars and publishers, but not necessarily for their bank accounts. In developing countries, publishers say, the majority of those books are illegal copies. As a result, pirates, and not the rightful owners of editions, pocket much of the profits from the sale of the books. Sometimes students share the purchase of a textbook and make photocopies. But Western publishers say the biggest threat is from unscrupulous printers and from copy shops around -- or on -- university campuses, which specialize in turning out hundreds, or even thousands of illegal copies of textbooks. "An 18-year-old copying a library book is not our main concern," says Patricia Judd, a former copyright attorney who is in charge of the antipiracy campaign of the Association of American Publishers. "Our main concern is large-scale commercial copying that is decimating anything from 20 to 99.9 percent of our market" in foreign countries. Sometimes professors in developing countries provide textbooks for copying, arguing that their students cannot afford to purchase imported texts, and that publishers have already made enough profits. But publishers from rich and poor countries alike respond that wherever it takes place, illegal copying denies scholars and publishers payment for their toil, and undermines the development of vibrant academic communities. The problem is biggest in Asia, where it is fed by expanding economies and increasing college enrollments, the widespread use of English in education, and a weak tradition of respect for copyrights. In a recent report the Publishers Association, representing book producers in Britain, said that "the availability of cheap, high-quality printing in many Asian countries is producing a frightening escalation in local piracy." Members of the American publishers' group suffered their greatest losses last year in China, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, and South Korea, according to the "2004 Special 301 Recommendations," a watch list of the 50 or so countries with the highest levels of copyright infringements. The list, compiled each year by the International Intellectual Property Alliance, which represents American producers of books, motion pictures, music, computer software, and video games, is endorsed by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Estimated losses for U.S. book publishers last year ranged from $300,000 in Bulgaria to $45-million in the Philippines. In all, the publishers' group says, its members lost more than $500-million in foreign sales as a result of piracy. The British group doesn't even try to estimate its members' losses. While Harry Potter books and a few other popular titles have been subject to large-scale unauthorized reproduction, publishers say most illegal copying involves college textbooks -- not surprising, since textbooks are generally both required reading and relatively expensive. The problem is particularly serious in scientific and technical subjects, including medicine, since those disciplines are taught in English in many countries. Publishers say they have received little help from foreign governments. Patricia S. Schroeder, a former Congresswoman who is president of the Association of American Publishers, says that while developing countries are often more willing to crack down on illegal copying of movies, computer software, and music CD's, textbooks are seen as something different. "Countries say to us: 'We really want education for our kids. You people [in the United States] are rich. Why do you want to stop us from copying textbooks?'" High-Tech Piracy Illegal copying has become easier because of continuing improvements in photocopying technology. Pirated editions are sold in various forms, from simple stacks of photocopied pages to professionally bound volumes. Even the original covers are sometimes reproduced, using inexpensive digital scanners. "The quality of the printing and copying is just phenomenal," says Kate Bostock, of the British publishers' group. Enterprising pirates anticipate course syllabi and send representatives to wait outside classrooms and take orders from students on the first day of courses. Buyers are typically instructed to wait outside a campus gate at an appointed time for a van to deliver the volumes. In some countries, universities themselves are directly or indirectly involved in the practice. Chinese institutions usually supply textbooks to their students. But publishers say unauthorized editions are common, as are illegal translations, typically with the author's name omitted and the name of a Chinese academic in its place. Last year the Association of American Publishers sent letters to the presidents of more than 200 colleges in South Korea and Malaysia, urging them to put a stop to the illegal textbook reproduction that is rampant on their campuses. The letters -- those sent to Korean institutions were cosigned by the Korean Publishers Association -- noted the severe punishments for unauthorized book copying, including up to five years' imprisonment for commercial piracy, and said the practice was "perhaps irreparably damaging the development and preservation of our literary talents and heritage." Publishers' demands that foreign governments move against the pirates have gotten a boost from the recent Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, commonly known as Trips. Still being phased in, under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, the agreement obligates signatory governments to enforce international copyrights. In recent years police have raided clandestine textbook operations in several Asian countries, often after investigators hired by American or British publishers had gathered evidence of illegal publishing. In what is said to be the largest raid in publishing history, South Korean law-enforcement officials raided a warehouse on the outskirts of Seoul in 2001 and turned up 600,000 counterfeit English-language books, including many textbooks. The books had an estimated value of more than $14.5-million, according to the Association of American Publishers. The warehouse belonged to Han Shin, one of the oldest book distributors in the country. The association says the seized books were of particularly high quality and were selling at normal or near-normal retail prices. Experts had to use microscopic analysis to confirm that the books were unauthorized. In March 2003 police in the Indian capital, New Delhi, raided a printing company on the basis of evidence collected by the British Publishers Association. They discovered 70,000 counterfeit textbooks. In Taiwan during the same month, in a coordinated operation, police raided more than 100 copy shops suspected of textbook piracy in 11 cities. Ms. Judd, the antipiracy chief for American publishers, says her group has gotten the most cooperation from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. In many cases, local publishers -- who also frequently fall victim to pirates -- team up with their Western counterparts to fight the problem. Books and equipment are often seized during raids, and individuals have been prosecuted, although few have been convicted. Even so, enforcement activities appear to be having an impact. In some places, copy shops specializing in illegal textbook reproduction have been driven underground. Ms. Judd says she discovered one such copying business on a recent trip to the Taiwanese capital, Taipei. While wandering near a major university she came across a coffee shop that was, oddly, closed at lunchtime. Suspicious, she peered through a shuttered window and saw a half-dozen photocopy machines and people moving around in the dark. Estimates by American publishers of their annual losses to piracy have stayed near the half-billion-dollar mark over the past eight years, suggesting that advances in photocopying technology and galloping enrollment increases -- factors that should favor textbook piracy -- have been counterbalanced by an increase in law-enforcement activities. Indifference Abroad Publishers say China remains one of the least cooperative countries. Beijing does not even allow foreign publishers to hire local experts to do research on the extent of the problem. "We can have investigations done in India," says Ms. Schroeder, head of the American publishers' group. "We may not be happy with the slowness of the courts in prosecuting offenders, but at least they're taking some action." There have been surprises. In 2001 the widespread illegal reproduction of academic periodicals stopped almost overnight after China's vice premier, Li Lanqing, issued a directive banning the practice. In recent months, publishers say, there has been some backsliding, especially through unauthorized access to online periodicals. Still, says Ms. Judd, "they've proven they can stop it if they want to." American publishing officials travel regularly to China to monitor the situation and lobby Chinese publishers and government officials. They are assisted in this effort by American diplomats. Western publishers, though, appear reluctant to antagonize China and hurt their sales to its huge and growing market. Unchecked, book piracy will grow to new dimensions, publishers warn. "It's becoming international big business," says Ms. Bostock, of the British publishers' group. Investigators have found large quantities of counterfeit editions produced in China on sale in Nigeria. "We think China is one of the biggest exporters of pirated books," she says. "Pirated books from Malaysia have also turned up in Saudi Arabia." Publishers say many developing countries need stronger copyright laws as well as stronger enforcement. In China, says Ms. Judd, copyright violation is classified not as a crime but as a less serious administrative offense. Turkey, on the other hand, adopted a copyright law two years ago with stiff penalties, including jail sentences of up to 10 years for violations for commercial purposes. American and British publishers report more piracy in Turkey than in any other Middle Eastern country. Turkish publishers, too, express concern. They, like local publishers in other countries, say the problem spills over to undermine their own business. Legitimate Turkish textbooks are usually softcover editions, selling for considerably less than American textbooks, says Mine Dumanoglu, of Literatür Yayincilik Dagitim Ltd., one of Turkey's leading textbook publishers. As a result they are less frequently reprinted without authorization. "Still," she says, "we face a major problem of photocopying of selected chapters." Since wages and prices tend to be lower in developing countries, American publishers often sell their books at much lower prices there than in the United States. But that strategy, which has come in for criticism by American buyers and bookstore owners who say they want low prices, too, has its own risks. Ms. Schroeder says Robert B. Zoellick, the U.S. Trade Representative, recently advised her that American publishers need to lower their prices further in foreign markets to undercut the pirates. "But we're in a very difficult situation," she says. "If you lower the price, people sell them over the Internet back to the United States," undercutting American sales. Enterprising American students are sometimes the ones buying up the lower-priced foreign copies and selling them to their classmates for less than what they would pay at the campus bookstore. Meanwhile, textbook publishers say they need more support from foreign authorities and university leaders alike to change the attitudes of students and faculty members who find nothing wrong with textbook piracy. In surveys commissioned by the American association, 94 percent of students in Singapore and 96 percent of students in Hong Kong and Taiwan said they felt that illegal photocopying of study material is acceptable. 
http://chronicle.com Section: International Volume 50, Issue 30, Page A38 | |||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2004 by The Chronicle of Higher Education