Er, the title of this article is a tad bit misleading because I do not believe the copyright law safeguards the interests of the author. Also, er, because I cannot afford to buy books printed by authorised publishers.
Among the many days celebrated in the month of April, which begins with April Fool's Day, is the World Copyright Day sponsored by UNESCO. The 23rd of the month was chosen as it is a symbolic date for literature since on this date in 1616, Cerevantes, Shakesperare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. UNESCO seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright. It is a nice, sentiment but in actual terms, it is irritatingly unrealistic, impractical and useless.
In our beloved country, the copyright law is a hopeless chowkidar. A law only works when there is rule of law. But even in law-abiding countries the copyright law has not been able to safeguard the intellectual property of a majority of authors. You have to be very rich, wellknown and have massive public support to win a case in a court of law. Few authors ever reach this level of financial and personal success in their lifetime. The heirs often have to spend years in litigation footing the steep lawyer's fee before they gain redress and go bankrupt, making justice an exercise in futility.
In the olden days book piracy and plagiarism were the only ways intellectual estates were stolen. Recently Rowing, the author of the Harry Potter series of children's novels, sued a company which plans to set up a theme park.
The heirs of "Gone With The Wind" sued an author who produced a sequel to the novel; then realising there was public demand for such a book authorised the writing of "Scarlette".
Edward Said complained in the Afterward of his truly intellectual work "Orientalism" that impoverished countries like Pakistan translated his book in their languages without so much as "by your leave", but he could not bring a case against any of these plagiarists.
In Pakistan, the champions of the copyright law are the book publishers. They are not interested in safeguarding the intellectual property of the authors, they are solely interested in protecting their business. If there is rampant book piracy in the country, it is primarily because people want to read and cannot afford the expensive authorised editions. There is a demand for cheap books so book piracy is a thriving business.
In a way, book piracy is proof that people want to read, that there is a big demand for good books at cheap prices. Without the demand there would be no profit in printing pirated editions, would there? Authorised publishers trot out a million excuses why their books are expensive to produce, but they have not been able to explain why they do not themselves, produce cheap editions and so kill the piracy trade?
The reason, it seems, is that they would not make a profit from cheap editions. Most publishers print a very small number of copies, at most 3,000. They ensure the sale of this lot. There are ready buyers in the diplomatic enclave, the libraries and private collectors, or book readers who are rich, the banks and corporates, as well as the government departments purchasing books for their libraries. Very few booksellers are on the list of their customers. The reason for championing the copyright law is that some big time book pirates have entered the field and are elbowing out authorised publishers. Overnight, a book in demand can be printed and supplied, and the legitimate publishers are often left high and dry with their books unsold. Some publishers, such as Oxford, have tried to beat the menace by affixing a hologram. But even holograms can be reproduced quickly. Crooks are crafty.
There is another menace. Not all books published abroad by authorised publishers are imported from the publishing houses. Many of these books, if not all of them, reach Pakistan via Malaysia and other such countries which do the actual printing. Any slight flaw in the printing leads to rejection by the British or American publishing house, which is having the books printed in Malasia, Thailand and Singapore. These rejects are quite good, as one can hardly note the flaws. These are exported as "ruddi" to Pakistan.
Thus many of the books we think are from the publishers have arrived in Pakistan as "ruddi". This is especially the case with textbooks and sourcebooks for professional students such as in medicine, IT, Political Science, Physics. The "ruddi" arrives as loose sheets or leaves which are cut, compiled and bound here, in places like Khori Garden and in Nazimabad.
Sometimes, I wonder if this is not an international racket with the rejections deliberately created for the profitable export market of "ruddi". The problem is that, while there is a demand for professional text books, in each profession there is not such a big demand as to make the legitimate import of the books feasible. A consignment of a few hundred medical textbooks is hardly worth importing.
Everytime I browse through my three volumes of Jalaluddin Rumi's work, translated by Nicholson, I give thanks to the unknown printers in Lahore. For years I searched for it in London and New York, left a forwarding address with bookshops which deal in old and rare books. Nobody responded.
Everywhere the litany was "not available", "out of print", "owners of Nicholson's translation not interested in selling". Then one fine day I happened to pass the book shop (now closed) run by an Irani near Zainab Market. I rushed back to the shop and asked if they had Nicholson's translation of the Mathnawi, "Yes Madam, all six volumes." It was music to my ears.
I did not want the three volumes of criticism, just the translation of the Mathnawi. He was willing to sell, I was willing to buy at any price. The books were not expensive, a total of Rs 1500 for the three volumes. I asked him where he got them when the whole world did not have them. "Bless the book pirates in Lahore, madam," he said with an impish smile and not a tinge of guilty feeling. I do not have any guilty feeling for buying this pirated edition either.
Does anybody realise how many good books are denied to us just because one is supposed to be law-abiding, and would not buy a pirated edition? The "us" includes book lovers and students, both are desperate for books. Either books are not available or too expensive. Do you blame us for being patrons of piracy? Even if you do, we do not feel at all guilty. Thank you.
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