Piracy of books and journals

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

>From the Publishers Association web site:
http://www.publishers.org.uk/

"The US organisation: International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA)
estimates that the worldwide cost in lost sales resulting from piracy of
US books and journals is US$1 billion The Asia-Pacific, Middle East and
Indian subcontinent, have consistently been major problem areas. The
situation in Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and China was gradually improving
as a result of US-led international pressure for improved copyright
legislation and enforcement, but since October 1997 the regional economic
crisis has caused a dramatic resurgence in piracy and photocopying."

See also specific examples on their website such as: Anti Piracy Action in
India - June 2000 to Dec 2001 (deals almost exclusively with photocopiers
and priting books) which accounted for about 100,000 copies.

A recent "web" related anti-piracy success was against a website in
Moldovia "which was illegally distributing the copyright works of authors
including J K Rowling, Arthur C Clarke and Robert Jordan." ..."These three
authors are just a small sample of those whose copyright works were being
illegally distributed via this website," Mr Jones (of the PA) said. "We
are delighted to have put a stop to such blatant abuse of authors' rights
but are continuing to monitor the region closely."

"Washington, DC, March X, 2001: In what is believed to be the largest raid
in global publishing history, law enforcement officials in Korea, with the
cooperation of the Association of American Publishers discovered an
estimated 600,000 counterfeit English language books with an estimated
value in excess of $14.5 million us dollars....The counterfeit
English-language books comprising about 3,000 separate titles, run the
gamut from popular best-selling fiction, to college literature, to
reference and professional works. "

I've followed these kinds of reports since the mid 80's and they are not
anything new.

Chuck