Pirates of the copyright

Nishant
Unlike Jack Sparrow, the pirate with a heart of gold, his modern-day avatars only seem to be interested in filling their own pots of gold to the brim. And if their avarice translates into stupendous losses for authors and publishers, well, so be it. For the uninitiated, we're referring to pirated versions of popular fiction books that seem to be giving tough competition to their more expensive, 'original' cousins.
These cheap, poor-quality versions of popular books are flooding the market and this despite the fact that world famous authors like JK Rowling have taken up cudgels against the culprits. Rowling for instance, has already sued a website for selling pirated versions of her bestsellers. For avid reader and management consultant Pavan Kumar, "Books are like an asset and one cannot compromise on quality when buying one." On the other hand, there are also the likes of Rachna Rishi, a student, who says, "I'm fond of reading, but cannot afford the expensive original prints, so I go in for the duplicates which are cheaper. After all, the content remains the same."
And booksellers like Md Shameem ensure that there is no dearth of such cheap, off-the-street material. For Shameem, who deals in pirated books, it's as simple as demand and supply. Ask him why he sells pirated books and he'll tell you he does it, "Because people buy these books."
An attitude which has the likes of YP Singh, author of the bestseller Carnage Of Angels, livid. While Singh agrees that books don't come cheap, he also feels that, "Books are priced keeping in mind the intellectual labour put in by the author. But slashing costs will not help curb piracy either," says Singh. Not that Sandeep Dutt, CEO of a well-known chain of bookstores agrees. According to Dutt, "The best way publishers can curb piracy is by following the concept of a realistic pricing strategy. It is indeed difficult for a pirate to come up with a duplicate version of a bestseller, priced as low as Rs 95." Making readers accountable, he adds that they should also make a conscious effort to stay away from pirated stuff.
Or perhaps publishers could take a leaf from this optical storage manufacturing giant's book. The company recently pulled off a virtual coup by releasing a Tamil film catalogue at a price that is guaranteed to put a smile on the faces of movie buffs: Rs 28 for the CD pack and Rs 34 per DVD. Their aim is to acquire 40 per cent of the movie content produced in India in the coming years. Their pricing strategy will also kill the pirated market which is as big as Rs 20,000 crore approximately.
Time people began reading between the lines, eh?
Courtesy: Times of India