Publishers & Piracy

Whether unlawful copies are made with or without commercial interest, by commercial pirates or by private individuals, for publishers the damage can be the same. Any unlawful copy of their book or journal, in paper or electronic form, affects their business as much as the theft of the same work as a book in a shop. Any unlawful copying amounts to a misappropriation of their property.

 

Consequently, copyright laws generally sanction this theft, under civil and sometimes also under criminal law, just like the theft of tangible property.

 

Unfortunately, copyright infringement is not as easy to detect as the theft of physical goods, particularly not in the electronic age where electronic files can be created and widely spread within short time periods. This renders the enforcement of copyright particularly difficult, and makes awareness-raising particularly important.