Pirates turn to books

Talk about stealing… perjury… plagiarizing… as I have read in one book, the only way for you to be sure not to have your work copied, pirated, is NOT TO PUBLISH IT!

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

05:55 AM May 13, 2009

NEW YORK - Science fiction author Ursula K Le Guin was using document-sharing website Scribd last month when she came across digital copies of her books.

But neither Ms Le Guin nor her publisher had authorised the electronic editions. To her, it was a rude introduction to the quietly proliferating problem of digital piracy in the literary world.

“I thought, who do these people think they are?” she said. “Why do they think they can violate my copyright and get away with it?”

Unlike in the music business, to authors and publishers in the age of electronic readers, it’s new and frightening territory.

For a while now, determined readers have been able to sniff out errant digital copies of titles as varied as the Harry Potter series and best sellers by Stephen King and John Grisham.

But some publishers say the problem has ballooned recently as an expanding appetite for e-books has spawned a bumper crop of pirated editions on document-sharing websites like Scribd and Wattpad, as well as on file-sharing services.

John Wiley and Sons, a publisher that issues the For Dummies series, employs three full-time staff members to trawl for unauthorised copies. Mr Gary Rinck, general counsel, said in the last month, the company had sent notices on more than 5,000 titles - five times more than a year ago - asking websites to take down digital versions of Wiley’s books.

Sites like Scribd and Wattpad, which invite users to upload documents like college theses and self-published novels, have been the target of industry grumbling in recent weeks, as illegal reproductions of popular titles have turned up on them. Both sites say they remove such books once notified.

Until recently, publishers believed books were safe from piracy because it was so labour-intensive to convert a book to a digital file. Reading on the computer was also unappealing compared with a printed version.

Now, with publishers producing more digital editions, it is potentially easier for hackers to copy files. And the popularity of electronic reading devices like the Kindle make it easier to read in digital form.
Book sales are down, and publishers say it is difficult to determine whether electronic piracy is denting sales.

For some writers, tracking down illegal e-books is simply not worth it. “The question is, how much time and energy do I want to spend chasing these guys,” best-selling author Stephen King said. THE NEW YORK TIMES

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 13-May-2009

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