After experiencing the "small composition", Dong Yuhui changed his personal Douyin profile from "I used to be a teacher, now I am a salesperson" to a sentence from "The Analects of Zihan" "Don't will, don't must, don't be solid, don't be me".
When he returned to the Oriental Selection Live Room, the first book product he brought to fans was "The Analects". ** confirmed to Yuelu Books that within a few minutes of Dong Yuhui's live broadcast of the "Analects", 18,000 copies of the "Analects" were sold out, resulting in the entire network being out of stock.
Thanks to the rapid development of Internet technology and e-commerce platforms, buying and selling books online has become a convenient and fast way. However, at the same time, pirated books and photocopied books have also taken advantage of the "east wind" of Internet communication, seriously squeezing the market for genuine books, and the impact on consumers and the industry cannot be ignored.
High profits attract e-commerce to sell pirated books.
According to the joint research industry consulting report, from 2016 to 2022, the sales network channels of China's book retail market grew rapidly, especially after the epidemic, the proportion quickly increased to about 80%, carrying the core increment. In 2022, China's book retail online channels will be 73.8 billion yuan, accounting for 84 percent of the book retail market7%。
With the help of e-commerce platforms, the sales of some popular books have skyrocketed, and some "unpopular" books have also ushered in a new life. At the same time, stores on e-commerce platforms are mixed, and pirated books such as photocopied books and photocopied books are also eroding the market. In recent years, in the cases of production and sale of pirated books detected in many places, pirated book shops can sell hundreds of thousands or even millions of books every year, and the annual sales amount reaches millions or even tens of millions of yuan.
Not long ago, consumer Ding Xiao (pseudonym) bought a copy of "Retelling Modern History" on a certain treasure, and the store was under the banner of "new and genuine", but it was introducing the book to users as "high-definition fine brush, new plastic seal".
After receiving the book, Ding Xiao noticed that the book used the issue number of the original book, and there was no *** on the back cover, he thought it was a pirated book. "High-definition fine brushing is a photocopy, first of all, this kind of book is not expensive enough to be photocopied, and secondly, if it is an authorized photocopy, there must be a new issue number. ”
In addition, Ding Xiao also said that he had bought copied books on e-commerce platforms. Judging from the ** provided by Ding Xiao, the black edge on the inner page of the book is obvious, and the handwriting is relatively blurry. When Ding Xiao found the customer service and asked if it was a photocopy, the customer service replied: "Sorry, is it okay to get a discount of 6 yuan?"”
Consumer Zhou Tian (pseudonym) also encountered an incident of high-definition print books on a multi-platform. When asked if a certain book is genuine, the store's customer service responds with "new book, high-definition print version". When Zhou Tian asked, "It's not genuine, but the content is the same, right?"The store's customer service replied: "Understand in place".
It should be noted that Zhou Tian bought the same two books on a certain east platform, both of which are genuine, but their sales methods are different from those on other platforms. When asked whether it is genuine, both stores responded that it was genuine, but also indicated that "the book is in the warehouse, for the specific situation of the book, the warehouse will find the book after placing the order, and then **contact you to explain the situation of the book." After that, the two stores called ** separately and informed them that the book situation was 8-9 years new.
Liu Xiaochun, executive director of the Internet Rule of Law Research Center of the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, once pointed out that merchants are attracted by the high profits of pirated book sales, and they are lucky, even if they are banned after being discovered, the losses are usually not very large, which breeds a strong industrial chain behind pirated books. In this gray industrial chain, each link has division of labor and cooperation, batch operation, and the operation has been very mature and professional.
industry"Bitter piracy for a long time".
Yi Zhongtian, a well-known writer and scholar, once lamented that "piracy has been bitter for a long time". He gave an example: in 2006, less than a month after the copyright of his "Three Kingdoms" was auctioned at the Media Center, "Three Kingdoms" signed "Yi Zhongtian" appeared on the market. At this time, the original book has not yet been submitted in its entirety. "Fake books can be made, and piracy is not a problem. At that time, on the stalls, there were all black and black water. ”
Yi Zhongtian also revealed something even more ridiculous: the relevant departments have always emphasized the protection of intellectual property rights, and the back cover of his book was also printed with the words "The State Press and Publication Administration Specializes in Protecting Books and Strictly Prohibiting Piracy". As a result, this line of words was also printed on the pirated book.
We can't do it on our own, and it's hard to teach readers how to identify. can only rely on the ** to move the real style. Yi Zhongtian said.
This year, Yi Zhongtian personally participated in the "Jiaxing Nanhu '12.28' Extraordinarily Large Copyright Infringement Case Investigation Symposium". He said that in the warehouse, he saw a mountain of pirated books seized, and it was said that ten 13-meter-long trucks had to be used to pull them, totaling more than 720,000 copies, and the amount involved was as high as 120 million.
In fact, there are so many types of piracy on the market that it is difficult to distinguish not only the readers, but also the authors themselves and the publishing companies.
Taking the above-mentioned photocopied book as an example, Zhou Zheng (pseudonym), a person in the publishing industry, said that there are generally two interpretations of photocopying. The first is piracy, which is using the word "photocopy" to steal beams and change pillars. In this case, it may be that it is too expensive to buy the copyright of the original version, and in order to save money, photocopy it privately, completely copy other people's books, and the book also uses the copyright of the original book, which is pure piracy.
The second type is a photocopy with the authorization of the original author or publisher, which is a regular publication. After obtaining permission to photocopy the book, photocopy the entire book. "Most of the photocopies are English books or ancient books. There is no such thing as photocopying in general books, unless the book is going to be out of print and cannot be bought, otherwise there is an original version, why should there be a photocopy?”
Zhou Zheng explained that the general situation is that except for public books, books have a copyright period. That is, at the same time, only one edition existed on a continental scale, and it had a unique ISBN. "Photocopying a publication that is being distributed normally in the mainland book market without obtaining copyright is not eligible for a book number, and it is illegal piracy. ”
Zhou Zheng further talked about that copyrighted photocopies usually involve the introduction of copyright, editing, typesetting, paper, printing, marketing, marketing and other costs, while pirated photocopying only costs paper money, printing, and logistics costs for putting it on the market, so it is much cheaper on the market.
In Zhou Zheng's view, pure piracy is also difficult to identify, and sometimes it can only be identified by printing, paper quality, etc. For example, whether the handwriting is legible, whether the paper is thin, etc. "In fact, piracy is completely unstoppable, and if a publisher finds out that there are pirated books of its own, it will report it to the platform, and the platform will remove it from the shelves. ”
Liu Xiaochun also pointed out that e-commerce platforms often publish information online and ship books offline, and to determine whether a book is pirated, it mainly relies on information such as product descriptions, sellers' statements and explanations, etc., and cannot make a comprehensive and effective judgment in advance. Moreover, sometimes the information released by merchants is only drainage, and the transaction is carried out on other platforms, so the judgment link is longer and the uncertainty is higher. "The governance of pirated books on e-commerce platforms faces problems such as difficulty in judgment and collaboration, which is an important reason why it is difficult to obtain the best in this industry. ”
How to defend your rights?
Compared with the traditional sale of pirated books, the sale of pirated books on e-commerce platforms has problems such as strong transaction concealment, wide sales range, large quantity, mixed sale of authenticity and fakeness, and difficulty in determining evidence.
Even if a pirated book is discovered, it is not easy to successfully defend its rights. Du Ying, a professor at the Law School of the University of Finance and Economics, pointed out that for copyright owners and publishers, pirated booksellers on e-commerce platforms appear in large numbers in the form of individuals, with strong transaction concealment, high cost of rights protection, but relatively small returns, and even if one store is seized, another store will appear on the platform, falling into the "gopher monster circle" of point-to-point attacks.
Is it illegal to sell pirated books?How can consumers protect their rights?
Li Min, a senior partner at Shanghai Hansheng Law Firm and a doctor of law, said that if the copyright of the book is still within the protection period stipulated by law, the production and sale of photocopies without the authorization of the rights holder constitutes infringement.
He pointed out that it is illegal for e-commerce stores to sell pirated books or **. According to the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant regulations, e-commerce platforms, as sales channels, also have the responsibility to monitor the legality of the goods sold. If an e-commerce store sells infringing goods, the store and the platform need to bear the corresponding legal liabilities, including compensation for infringement losses and administrative penalties.
In Li Min's view, the publisher or the original author can take a variety of means to maintain copyright, including but not limited to the following: 1. Copyright registration: The original author can register the copyright of his work through the National Copyright Administration or its authorized agency to strengthen the protection of his work. 2. Rights protection complaints: Publishers or original authors may complain to the e-commerce platform about piracy, request that the infringing goods be removed from the shelves or take other legal measures. 3. Filing a lawsuit: If the infringement is serious, the publisher or the original author can protect their copyright rights and interests by suing the infringer.
He also said that if consumers buy pirated books, they can take the following actions: 1. Complaints and reports: Consumers can complain about piracy to e-commerce platforms and copyright regulators, and provide relevant evidence to require the platform to take corresponding measures. 2. Return and exchange requirements: Consumers can ask the seller to refund the payment or replace the genuine book, and require the seller to provide legal sales goods. 3. Seek legal assistance: If necessary, consumers can file a lawsuit to protect their rights and interests.
It is worth noting that relevant departments and e-commerce platforms are also continuing to strengthen governance measures to create healthy and formal book channels. For example, since 2005, China has carried out the "Sword Network Action" to crack down on online infringement and piracy for 17 consecutive yearsAlibaba, Pinduoduo, Douyin and other e-commerce platforms have signed cooperation agreements on book copyright protection with the Beijing Edition 15 Anti-Piracy Alliance and the Children's Publishing Anti-Piracy Alliance.
Du Ying believes that the protection of book copyright requires the participation of multiple parties and collaborative governance. Platforms, rights holders, operators on the platform, users, industry organizations and other entities should assume corresponding responsibilities to form a joint force to combat piracy book infringement, maintain a healthy and green ecological environment of the platform book market, and achieve a win-win situation for all parties.
Comprehensive self-rule of law**, Zhejiang**, etc.