PTC FORUM : PUBLICATIONS

INDIA / COPYRIGHT / PIRACY

India's Piracy Crackdown

Managing Intellectual Property, No 112, September 2001

Ralph Cunningham

Several weaknesses in the Indian system are identified in this article about the widespread incidence of copyright piracy in India. One is the weakness of policing; another is the weakness of resources available to the authorities; a third is the weakness of the courts and of judicial procedures. It is hard, as the author points out, to quantify the damage to publishers and authors resulting from piracy; but, following the Millennium Book Fair in New Delhi in 2000, a group of British, Indian and American publishers decided to act, both by directly invoking the present copyright laws and by seeking government help in the form of more effective legislation and enforcement. Direct action on 11th and 12th July, 2001, carried out with the help of the police, led to extensive seizures and a number of arrests. Even so, as the author says, book piracy remains a "lucrative business" in India: a legitimate copy of a book may sell for between $7 and $8.50, while a pirated version can be produced for 50 cents and sold for between $2 and $2.50. The publishers are therefore lobbying the government to improve enforcement and "raising copyright awareness". More specifically, they are pressing for the reform of the judicial system, to improve the speed of litigation, and for the introduction of an intellectual property court. Cases have been known to take 7 to 11 years: this is a serious discouragement to plaintiffs. A further reform may be an increase in criminal penalties for piracy: current penalties are relatively light. Above all, however, the publishers are keen to see a change of attitude among academics, consumers and students towards the publishers' and authors' copyright concerns. [20059]