Book lovers are robbing authors of their due

While the insistence of the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce has finally made the state government agree to book culprits involved in video piracy under the Goonda Act, the issue of book piracy continues to remain neglected in the state.

The sale of pirated books is a rampant phenomenon in the city. Be it on Brigade Road, Commercial Street or several other places in the city, one can see latest and award-winning books being sold at throwaway prices.

Moreover, there is no check on the violation of the copyright act which occurs with the sale and production of each such book. What is even more worrying is the fact that these pirated books — whose production and sale leads to a loss of revenue for both the author and publisher — are bought by none other than the educated English reading population, who actually come from well-to-do families.

Speaking to DNA, SK Ghai, chairman of copyright council of federation of Indian publishers, said, “Piracy deprives the author of his royalty. It also brings bad name to the Indian publishing industry. We must bring the culprits to the forefront and punish them. The federation is organising many activities to increase awareness among people. Even academic publishers like S Chand are suffering from piracy.”

Talking about his own experience, Subroto Bagchi, COO at MindTree and the author of the best seller Go Kiss the World, shared, “One day a lady walked into my office and asked me to autograph the copy of the book. I was shocked to see the pirated copy of the book in the hands of an educated woman. So I refused to sign the book and she was embarrassed.”

Bagchi further said, “I feel sorry about the fact that the urban India feels nothing about piracy of books and CDs. Why should readers from well-to-do, educated families opt for a pirated copy? It is loss of revenue for both author and the publisher.”

Author Shashi Deshpande said she was not aware that pirated versions of her books were available. “I never knew that my books were pirated. It is a crime and is nothing but stealing. A buyer must determine not to buy pirated books. If it is not possible for a reader to buy the book at the original price, let the person borrow it from someone or read it in library. The laws against piracy of books must be made stringent,” she added.

Pirated version of popular Kannada book Neevoo Gellaballiri, a Kannada translation by Vishweshwara Bhat of Shiv Khera’s You can Win, which is published by Macmillan publishers, has been selling like hot cakes.

Speaking to DNA, AR Udupa, manager of Navakarnataka publications, one of the largest distributors of the book, said , “Since two years 16,000 copies of the book have been printed and Navakarnataka alone has sold 14,000 copies. But in the last one year, a large number of pirated versions of the book have been sold at a price ranging between Rs 60-Rs120, when the actual price of the book is Rs285.”

According to him he has incurred 60% loss in the last two months due to piracy.
Rajiv Beri, MD of Macmillan Publishers, said, “Whenever a best seller is released, 30% to 40% of the profits are lost due to piracy. Readers should be made aware of the evils of piracy and the police should also conduct frequent raids to prevent such activities.”

List of popular pirated books in city
Neevoo Gellaballiri, Kannada version of Shiv Khera’s You Can Win
Go Kiss the World by Subroto Bagchi
Harry Potter series by J KRowling
Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani
Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn by Stephen Mayer
Interpretations of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Where rainbows end, PS I Love you, Thanks for Memories, by Cecilia Ahern

Copyright violation
A pirated book is a poor quality, complete photocopy or cheap reprint of the original book without the consent of the author and publisher.

With book piracy on the rise, publishers are planning to conduct workshops and seminars across the country to increase awareness among the buyers.

Milan Vohra, well-known author said that there should be a ban on pirated books. “The pleasure of reading a book gets diluted, when you read a pirated version. The sequence of the pages will not be correct; the quality of printing will not be good, ink will be smudged. The reason why people buy these books is due to the price factor,” said Vohra.

But Annie Chandi, Director of Unisun Publishers, said “There is a ban on pirated books, but it is difficult to keep a track on these things. It is like software piracy, so it becomes difficult.”