Anti-Piracy Program

Raid Reports

Anti-Piracy Activities from July through December 2005

AAP is carrying out raids throughout the year as programs expand. The Monthly Report for June/July 2005 provided an overview of the summer raids. These were followed by a series of enforcement activities in the fall.

The Hong Kong Customs & Excise department (C&E) has not only continued to work with rightsholders to run enforcement actions, adapting them to the increasingly underground nature of Hong Kong’s photocopy facilities, but also launched a reward scheme in October aimed at increasing the number of underground targets. Raids by C&E in August resulted in the confiscation of four copiers and five binding machines, the arrest of seven individuals and the seizure of illegally copied books valued at more than HK$82,000.00. Raids of an underground facility in September produced 179 illegally copied books, with authorities seizing four copies and making three arrests. The same day, authorities searched two additional shops, seizing machinery and illegal publications valued at HK$120,000 and arresting the two shop owners. Further raids at two residential premises in October underscored the seriousness of underground photocopying. In a press briefing following the raids the Hong Kong C&E announced the confiscation of 1,510 infringing photocopies of textbooks, along with three machines. C&E investigated twelve additional photocopy centers throughout the territory on the following day, resulting in the confiscation of 962 illegal copies of books and three photocopiers, results which Patricia Judd called “phenomenal.”

Enforcement actions are continuing in Malaysia as well. Following the June raids (reported previously in the Monthly Report), AAP, in collaboration with local Malaysian authorities, carried out productive raids in July and August hitting six copyshops, three located within easy access of the National University of Malaysia.

In the Philippines, another problem area, attention has focused on a notorious medical pirate, Multilinks Book Shop, whose owner was convicted last year as a result of an AAP-generated prosecution. Despite the conviction, the pirate continues to operate and was documented by AAP representatives selling illegal products. As a result, police raided the operation seizing 21 boxes of books, mostly medical textbooks, 3 copy machines and 1 computer. The owners were arrested again and the case passed on to the prosecutor. AAP is pressing for implementation of the first conviction as well as pushing the second pending case.

In September, with the advent of the new university term, enforcement focus shifted to South Korea. AAP investigators and officers from the local prosecutors office raided Woosung Munhwasa, a notorious pirate copy chop in Seoul. The owner admitted to producing illegal copies of more than 10,000 copyrighted books over the past three years. The September raid yielded almost 1,000 books, including titles from AAP members John Wiley and Sons, Thomson Learning, Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill, and Oxford University Press. A criminal complaint has been filed. Another raid was conducted against Jip-Hyun-Jeon copyshop. This action yielded several confiscated illegal copies of major publishers including a number of university presses. Criminal complaints are being prepared.

The beginning of the new university term in Taiwan was marked by several raids carried out in primarily in Taipei City and County and Taoyuan County. In the five locations raided, officers seized 29 titles and 179 infringing copies of titles belonging to AAP publishers including Thomson Learning, Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons and Elsevier. Cases are pending. The raid produced a number of Chinese as well as English titles, indicating that the piracy problem is not limited to English titles. 
For more on AAP’s International Copyright Protection Program contact Patricia Judd, AAP Washington, pjudd@publishers.org.

Update on AAP’s International Copyright Protection Program –  June/July 2005

Following an extraordinarily busy fall and winter highlighted by successful raids in Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong and extensive contacts with U.S. and foreign government officials, AAP’s International Copyright Protection activities continued full tilt throughout the spring. Raids in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong were highly successful, with a few particularly noteworthy. In South Korea, AAP worked with government authorities and the Korea Reprographic and Transmission Rights Center (KRTRC) to raid several premises in the first two weeks of March. The raids, which hit illegal operations with proximity to 20 universities primarily in the vicinity of Seoul, resulted in the seizure of hundreds of illegal copies. With cooperation from local authorities, AAP also conducted a successful raid on March 18. In Taiwan, AAP and member company representatives (working through the local AAP group, the Taiwan Book Publishers Association) and local police, under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice, raided pirate operations in Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung and Tainan on March 10 and 23. As a follow-up, the TBPA worked with a newly formed government group, the Intellectual Property Right Protecting Corps, to raid several copyshops on March 24 and April 6. These raids resulted in the seizure of hundreds of books belonging to a wide cross-section of AAP members. Prosecutions growing out of these enforcement actions are continuing. Ongoing cooperation between local AAP publishers and the Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department resulted in a series of raids throughout the spring. In the most recent on May 10, authorities seized more than 150 copies at shops located throughout the city, in Causeway Bay, Shaukeiwan and Tsuen Wan. Authorities also confiscated two machines and arrested three individuals in connection with these raids. Prosecutions are in progress. With the arrival of summer, which traditionally is the most intensive copying season in Southeast Asia, AAP is engaged throughout the region in efforts to minimize the impact of illegal copying. In Malaysia, in the first of a series of raids planned for June and July, AAP lawyers working with local authorities seized 53 master copies (used for making hundreds of photocopies) and several copy machines from an illegal operation in Kuala Lumpur on June 23. Planned raids are also imminent in the Philippines. An informant reward scheme that AAP has put in place in Malaysia has already produced results. A similar scheme is being finalized in Hong Kong. The International Copyright Protection agenda has not been limited to raids. AAP continues to collect valuable information about overseas markets for use in future enforcement and ongoing lobbying efforts. Notably, a textbook piracy study conducted this spring in the People’s Republic of China, in cooperation with the Publishers Association U.K., produced useful information on the nature of textbook piracy on and around university campuses. AAP and PA are now working with the Chinese government to focus needed attention on the problem. In addition, AAP is bringing university administrations and education ministries in several territories into the fight against on-campus infringement.

With help from the U.S. government, AAP was able to elicit an unprecedented letter to universities in South Korea from the Minister of Education, asking for reports on their efforts to limit or eliminate on-campus book piracy. AAP is working with the U.S. and Korean governments to monitor progress and ensure that the universities submit the required reports. Engagement with education ministries has also begun elsewhere, notably in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Advocacy efforts continue on legislative and enforcement issues. AAP has been in close communication with U.S. government officials during bilateral dealings with China, as part of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) and discussion of possible invocation of World Trade Organization (WTO) remedies. In Hong Kong, AAP has been involved in heated legislative battles over criminal liability for infringement, fair use and the protection of works in digital form, which are expected to continue into next year. In Thailand, AAP has been working to change the unclear and overbroad provision in the copyright law that has allowed commercial infringement of academic materials for “educational use.”  AAP worked in close cooperation with U.S. government officials to craft language that would close the loophole, to be put forward during the U.S./Thailand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. AAP also continues to monitor Singapore’s compliance with its FTA intellectual property protection obligations. In Japan, AAP has joined with local publishers and other international publishing groups to fight a proposed compulsory license that would allow copying of medical materials far beyond international norms.

AAP is working to ensure that Vietnam implements reforms needed to bring it into compliance with the major international copyright treaty it recently joined. AAP won its first major court battle in the Philippines with the sentencing of a well-known medical book pirate to a year in jail and imposition of a substantial fine for several counts of infringement. Also, working with U.S. and Philippine government officials, AAP made some progress in the effort to rid shelves of illegal materials reproduced under a long-since-repealed compulsory license provision. Educational efforts continue throughout the region, most notably in the Philippines, where a mass media campaign is underway, and in Malaysia, where poster campaigns have gotten the attention of university officials.

AAP has further market research planned for China, including research on protection of online materials. In Thailand, AAP will support its bid for policy reform with ongoing research, educational campaigns and possible enforcement action. In cooperation with the British PA, AAP will co-host a Publishers Roundtable to coincide with the Beijing International Book Fair in September. The event will provide an opportunity for increased dialogue between industry and government groups. AAP and PA will sponsor a joint delegation to India early in 2006 to coincide with the World Book Fair in New Delhi.

For more on AAP’s International Copyright Protection Program contact Patricia Judd, AAP Washington, pjudd@publishers.org.

AAP Pressure on Pirates Intensifies in Series of 2004 Raids

Book pirates in six Asian territories felt the long reach of AAP’s anti-piracy campaign in a series of raids coordinated by the Association and carried out from January through early May. In South Korea in March, foreign and local publishers joined forced for the first time in years, conducting raids under the authority of the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Korea Reprographic and Transmission Rights Center (KRTRC). The enforcement actions took place near sixteen different universities in Seoul and Kyunggi Province. The ability to work with the Ministry and the KRTRC is an encouraging development that will, in all likelihood, enable AAP members to carry out raids more frequently in Korea. In addition, AAP conducted raids on March 8 in Suwon City, in conjunction with the Suwon Prosecutor’s Office. The raids targeted two copyshops on the campus of Ajou University in Suwon City. Authorities arrested the shop owners and seized 148 infringing copies of books (along with 12 originals). The following week, AAP and authorities raided the manufacturing facility owned by the copyshop owner, resulting in the seizure of some 1,000 illegal copies along with master computer files. Seized in the raids were illegal copies of books published by eight AAP member companies: Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Thomson Learning, McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, Oxford University Press, Pearson Education, and John Wiley & Sons. South Korean enforcement continued in April with a raid, in conjunction with the Ansan Prosecutor’s Office and local authorities, on Myung Jin Gi Hwick copy shop and a warehouse facility operated by the copyshop owner. Seized were more than 5,000 infringing copies of titles belonging to Pearson Education, John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier, Thomson Learning, McGraw-Hill, Oxford University Press, and others. Following their arrest, the owners of the shop admitted to having copied more than 25,000 books over a two-year period. These significant advances in enforcement in Korea are coupled with ongoing and enhanced efforts in other territories in the region. AAP worked with local authorities to raid two copyshops in the Philippines on May 3. Sixteen photocopying machines were confiscated, in addition to the seizure of infringing copies (titles are still being inventoried), including titles published by McGraw-Hill and Elsevier. In Hong Kong, between February and April, the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Bureau carried out raids on seven copyshops, with cooperation from AAP and its member companies. A total of more than 1,200 infringing copies, eight copy machines, and six binding machines were seized in the raids, and three arrests resulted. Coordinated raids on ten copyshops in five cities in Taiwan were undertaken on March 7 in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice and local officials. The more than 228 illegal books seized are in the process of being inventoried for specific titles and publishers. Raids were carried out in January on three copyshops in Malaysia, near Taylor’s University in Subang Jaya. Undertaken in cooperation with officials from the Malaysian Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs and AAP local counsel, the raids resulted in the confiscation of eight copying machines, three binding machines and the seizure of 500 sets of infringing books. Patricia Judd, AAP’s Director of International Copyright Enforcement, was traveling in Kuala Lumpur at the time and was able to participate in the raid. In Singapore, two copyshops were raided in January in conjunction with local authorities and counsel. One of the same facilities was raided again in April, along with two other operations run by Hilton Trading. The April raid yielded 39 infringing copies and 30 original books being used for copying purposes. In carrying out its overseas anti-piracy campaign, AAP and the regional representatives of member publishers work in close alliance, and in cooperation with appropriate local government authorities. The Association and its members are determined to pursue appropriate legal action growing out of the raids.

For more on AAP’s International Copyright Protection Program contact Patricia Judd, AAP Washington, pjudd@publishers.org.