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| Although originating in a few cities in the country like New Delhi, Hyderabad and Meerut, pirated books are supplied on a mass scale all over India. |
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| These books are distributed to various dealers in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and other states at a discount of 50 per cent on the cover price by organised pirates who operate with high profit margins. |
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| Apart from the loss to the industry the exchequer also losses substantial tax-revenue due to this activity. |
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| "The problem that was sporadic about 10 years back has acquired epidemic proportions now. It is not just fiction but educational books like NCERT textbooks of the Central Board of Secondary Education and Andhra Pradesh Textbook Corporation's books for school-kids, that have begun to have their pirated editions," says N Subrahmanyam, managing-director of Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd, and head, Anti-Piracy Committee, FPBAI. |
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| Although violation of copyright is an economic offence under the amended Copyright Act, 1984, a lengthy legal process reduces chances of conviction. |
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| "We have not had even a single conviction under the Copyright Act since 1957 when it was originally enacted. Although our statute is quite strong, we need special courts for speedy disposal of cases for the law to actually act as a deterrent," adds Subrahmanyam. |
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| "Piracy, which accounts for about 25 per cent of the industry valued at Rs 7,000 crore, is undoubtedly growing. |
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| Apart from the need for the law to be more stringent, an all-round awareness is necessary for the problem to be contained," says Sukumar Das, president of FPBAI and managing director UBS Publishers' Distributors Pvt Ltd. |
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| The three year old Anti-Piracy Committee, set up by the Federation of Publishers' and Booksellers' Associations in India (FPBAI) actively works with The Publishers' Association - UK and the American Publishers' Association to create awareness about the copyright issue through its workshops and seminars and to contain the malaise. |
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| In about 150 raids conducted by these bodies through their attorney Akash Chittranshi & Associates in the past 3-4 years, about 2,50,000 pirated copies of books have been seized. |
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| India is one of the chief countries where pirating centres routinely produce books and other material illegally. Other countries include China, Pakistan, Ukraine, Nigeria, Taiwan and Malaysia. |
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