Stiffer sanctions on book piracy urged

Stiffer sanctions on book piracy urged

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta branch of the Association of
Indonesian Publishers (IKAPI) called on authorities and courts
yesterday to impose heavier sanctions against book piracy.

The association's head, Bakri Junus, said that authorities
should act consistently against book piracy because it has
inflicted great losses to publishers.

"Publishers have suffered financial losses. Courts leniently
sentence those who pirate," Bakri said.

The association will hold the Jakarta Book Fair from June 14
to June 22 in Senayan. Committee chairwoman, Kartini Nurdin, said
the theme of the exhibition was "Reading is Fun". The exhibition
which falls during the annual school holiday is aimed at
stimulating the younger generation's reading habits.

"At the book fair, we'll have a special stand displaying
pirated books," Bakri said, adding that a team specially set up
to combat book piracy would hold a seminar on copyrights.

The seminar will be attended by authorities, public
prosecutors, lawyers, publishers and other government officials.

Bakri aired his disappointment that some officials had not
acted consistently in punishing perpetrators since, under
existing laws, book piracy is considered a serious crime.

The heaviest punishment dealt out was in 1988 when an offender
was sentenced to 2.5 years and was charged Rp 30 million for
illegally reprinting books. In 1993, another perpetrator in
Surabaya, East Java, was jailed for six months for illegally
reprinting 42 best-selling titles, including text books.

Last September, a man was arrested in Bekasi, West Java, for
reprinting 13 books.

Piracy is not prominent in Jakarta because most illegal
printing companies are located outside the city, the association
said.

"Not many authorities know much about copyright laws and
sometimes even judges cannot distinguish the differences between
a publishing and a printing company," said Aris Buntarman, the
association's deputy. He added that the number of pirated books
had increased markedly, which discouraged publishers to produce
quality books.

Aris, who is also promotion manager at publishing house PT
Gramedia, called on publishers to consolidate themselves in
fighting piracy.

IKAPI has 522 members, with 262 of them in Jakarta, because
the capital has the biggest market for books.

State-owned publisher PT Balai Pustaka so far has lost Rp 125
billion (US$51.2 million) over book piracy, according to recent
news reports.

An executive from a publishing company in Ciracas, East
Jakarta, said he had found an effective way to counter piracy by
using different layouts and setting new sizes for the textbooks
he produced.

Gramedia's best-selling English-Indonesian and Indonesian
English dictionaries by John M. Echols and Hassan Shadily, were
among the easiest targets of piracy. Aris said that Jakartans
could easily spot the fakes sold by vendors at traffic lights. "I
bet 99.99 percent of those dictionaries offered at traffic lights
are pirated," he said.

"But piracy should not discourage writers from publishing
their works," Aris said, adding that the Jakarta Book Fair was
the best place to promote their works to the public and
publishers. (10)