The Hindu : Spotlight on piracy of books

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Spotlight on piracy of books

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 16. "Knowledge economy is based on books. The importance of books will never be curtailed even in this digital age. And therefore it is important to address the issue of piracy of books,'' said the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Sanjay Paswan, during a seminar, "Against Piracy of Books'', organised by the Federation of Publishers' and Booksellers' Association in India here today. Assuring his commitment to the cause, he added, "India must be a `vishwa guru' - a global leader - in this cause. If there is piracy, there should also be purity''.

Speaking about the Indian market, the Federation president, S.C. Sethi said, "India is the fastest growing education market and within the subcontinent, India is the largest market for books. But piracy is a rampant phenomenon. The current challenge that we face is territorial violation of copyright.'' To bring down piracy, FPBAI has also formed an anti-piracy and copyright committee, he informed.

Emphasising the need to eradicate piracy from the publishing sector, the international director of the Publishers' Association (UK), Ian Taylor, said, "If this continues, a number of publishers who set a special price for India, will not do so in which case books will become expensive. What we need to do is that those who have been arrested and charged should be prosecuted. There should be early trials in cases of intellectual property offences so that it acts as a deterrence''.

He also pointed out that prosecution is a problem when more that two states are involved. In such a case, he argued, there should be a network of communication set-up by the Centre.

The apathy of the enforcing agencies was an issue touched upon by most speakers. While most spoke against photocopying of complete books in universities, the chairman of the international relations committee of FPBAI, Subroto Mozumdar, said, "There are so many books that are available in India at cheaper rates. The problem is not if Indian students studying abroad buy them here but when such books are exported that's when it hurts the industry.''

Among the other speakers at the seminar were the managing director of Tata Mc Graw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd., N. Subrahmanyam, and advocate, Akash Chittranshi.

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