Book piracy causing loss to Govt, publishers

Bangalore, Nov 10: Piracy of books, mainly English fiction, in Karnataka was causing a huge loss to the State exchequer as well as to the writers and publishers, Bangalore Booksellers and Publishers Association Vice-President Nitin S Shah lamented today.

Speaking to mediapersons at the venue of the Bangalore Book Festival inaugurated here today, he said the sale of pirated books was on the rise in the State and they could be bought from pavement sellers in many of the arterial roads in the city. The menace had seen a rising trend mainly due to inadequate laws to tackle such crime and police inaction to check such illegal activities.

Mr Shah said ''unlike in Tamil Nadu, where selling of pirated books attracts action under the Goondas Act, there is no such stringent law to tackle this serious problem in Karnataka, which is eating into up to 40 per cent of the total book sales. Due to the growing menace, the authors will lose their royalty, while the tax paid to the Government by book sellers and publishers would fall drastically.'' He said the publishers had found out after making private inquiries that most of the pirated books were being printed in Hyderabad and sent to the State by 'distributors', who in turn supplied it to innocent unemployed youth for sale on pavements.

UNI