Market Watchdog, Businesses Work Together to Eliminate Book Piracy

Book piracy seriously hurts the legitimate rights and interests of authors, publishers and their partners and causes severe economic damage to them, resulting in a loss to State budget revenue and staining Vietnam's reputation in the international arena, as it already joined the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, said Mr. Tran Huu Linh, General Director of the Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance (DMS).

Visitors at the gallery of children’s books and toys 

Therefore, eliminating pirated publication printing and distribution and infringing upon intellectual property rights is not only the task of authorities, local governments and publishers but also the engagement of businesses and society.

Faced with the urgency of book piracy, the Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance (DMS) recently opened a gallery-themed “Children’s Educational Books and Safe Toys Identification Week” at 62 Trang Tien Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi.

Pirated books are rampant in the marketplace

In Vietnam today, pirated textbooks, reference books and other publications have seriously affected publishers. Besides, book piracy gravely infringes the legitimate interests of teachers, authors, publishers and affiliated partners; suppressed creativity and caused loss to State coffers. Pirated publications will badly affect users, mainly students, because they have errors in colors, symbols, scripts and knowledge, or insufficient data and outdated information that will lead to errors in content (boundary lines, territorial waters and sea and island matters), and students’ knowledge absorption.

Moreover, pirated educational publications with low-quality printing paper and blurred printing that do not meet technical standards will adversely affect students' physical health, especially eyesight. Using pirated educational publications, students will not be able to access and use online values, materials, add-ons, and support for them.

Ms. Do Thi Kim Dung, a branch representative of Creative Culture and Intelligence Company - First News in Hanoi, said that the market for pirated books is very complicated, extremely sophisticated and hardly detectable. 100% of the well-selling books of the company are pirated. In the past, pirated publications were sold widely in stores but they have now gradually moved to online platforms like Facebook and Sendo.

Sanctions will be strong enough to deter violators

Sharing solutions to better attack counterfeit and pirated books on the market, Ms. Vu Thi Minh Ngoc, Director of the Planning & Finance Department under DMS, said, DMS has recently handled many cases, especially those in connection with FDI companies. Accordingly, one of the fundamental measures is to intensify inspection and control of the market, especially handling violations and transferring book piracy cases to investigative agencies for further action.

She said, in the coming time, DMS will submit to the Prime Minister a project on “Improving the capacity of market authorities in handling intellectual property violations with administrative measures”. “This is also one of the issues expected to be approved by the Prime Minister, which will be a more favorable condition for market authorities to act more strongly against violations,” she added.

In addition to pirated publications, the Children’s Educational Books and Safe Toys Identification Week displayed and introduced children's toys to readers, particularly construction toys which are being favored by parents and children in the market. The exhibition of LEGO toy products will help consumers improve their identification of genuine and safe products for children sold in the LEGO Group market. This will subsequently not only build trust and enhance the reliability of the Vietnamese business investment environment to FDI firms, but also contribute to the country's economic and social development. Each product on display has a real-false comparison to help consumers easily compare, to buy genuine ones and avoid pirated items that have unguaranteed quality and may be harmful to users’ health.

Le Hien, Vietnam Business Forum