Guyana Resorts To Buying Pirated Textbooks Because Legal Copies Are Too Expensive [Updated]
from the cost-of-education dept
The fact that textbooks are too expensive is something that has been documented pretty well here. For example we have the stories of students paying over $180 for an art history book that contains no images, and a student being sued for copyright infringement for selling legally purchased imported textbooks for cheaper than the publishers want. The high cost of textbooks is such a problem that even some governments are taking steps to mitigate that cost.vmanda sends news that the government of Guyana has begun buying pirated copies of textbooks for its public schools because the publishers charge way too much.
The government of Guyana is making no apologies about the fact that it is buying pirated textbooks for public schools as a cost-saving measure.Of course the publishers of those books are not too happy. In a statement from Emma House of the Publishers Association, she states that the government is breaking many laws.
Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon says officials are buying pirated books from printing firms and companies that photocopy books because of their high quality and lower prices. Luncheon said the government's move is justified.
The Cabinet’s decision in Guyana to procure pirated textbooks for public schools is an indisputably illegal act. This decision is in contravention of Guyanese law, Caribbean law (CARICOM’s revised Treaty of Chaguaramas) and the international Berne Convention.Of course, what the PA seems to be overlooking is just why Guyana has chosen to ignore international copyright. It feels that the books are just way too expensive. By insisting on high prices, the publishers who make up that organization have put themselves out of reach of this country. Further, the fact that the government is willing to pay for books from pirate book printers is proof that the publishers could do much more to get Guyana to buy legally. Instead, the publishers have chosen to bully the country into paying out more for books than it can.
This is once again the result of copyright holders refusing to adapt to the marketplace, even a marketplace they have built their business around. These publishers have gotten so used to price gouging their customers that they do not know how to properly respond to someone choosing a cheaper alternative. Because the publishers have blinded themselves from reality, they are failing here. If they were actually willing to learn, they would take a step back and work with the government of Guyana to come up with a pricing plan that would actually work. Of course, that might be too much to ask from some companies.
Update: vmanda has provided an update stating that, at the behest of the Publishers Association, a Guyanese court has granted an injunction against local companies that illegally copy textbooks. This means the the government will no longer be able to buy pirated textbooks for the time being. There is no word yet on the government's response to the injunction.
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Filed Under: copyright, education, guyana, infringement, textbooks
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I never bought a book when I was in College. I barely had money to pay for my tuition how could I spend over $1.000 in books? I'm thinking about buying a few books I found relevant for my studies now but heck, $200 for one book that's around for decades now? Sure you need to update it and stuff but $200?
I sympathize with Guyana Govt. I hope many more start doing that. As I hope many more start breaking medicine patents like Brazil.
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The price of textbooks are far too high for the value you are getting. I would recommend a business of renting textbooks. You buy X number of textbooks and then rent them out (with a leaflet of changes) for a low price, that saves students money, and over the course of several semesters, gives you money.
Just a thought. Go Guyana!!!!
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They're heading this off by making a mandatory online component.
One of the things I learned when I worked at a major university was that textbooks are one of the biggest scams around. RIAA & the MPAA rightfully get a lot of condemnation, but in many ways they're amateurs compared to textbook publishers.
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I wonder, what made them get so far was the free and wide availability of culture. What are they planning to achieve by locking everything up behind copyright and absurd prices?
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Some classes, half the books were never used or only used once or twice. I would just copy the assignment from a friend's book.
My parents weren't that poor, but I saved them a fortune by doing this.
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All in all I have no respect for the textbook publishing industry; however, I still think it's worthwhile to note the catch-22 our author has glossed over.
I feel that reasonable pricing reflective of the marginal cost makes the most sense. Stop inflating the prices and stop with the locking students in to products they don't want or need.
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They want to be able to buy their supplies from whoever sells for less, globally, but they don't want to break the market down into small pieces so they can charge "what the market will bear" per country, rather than globally.
I say "pick one" - buy and sell entirely within one country or buy and sell globally, you don't get to buy globally and prevent arbitrage of your product.
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Clearly the government of Guyana has the money to pay for the textbooks. Like most freeloaders, they have decided that the price has too high and has chosen to violate the law rather than substitute or do without.
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No. They have the money to buy some textbooks, but not at the price the major publishers want the country to pay.
Like most freeloaders, they have decided that the price has too high
No. They have realized that the price being asked far exceeds its ability to pay.
and has chosen to violate the law rather than substitute or do without.
They have decided that educating their children is far more important than giving into the pressure of the monopolies of the textbook industry. They have decided that since they can educate their children at the quality level they want at a far lower cost to the people and the country, they will do so, despite the protests of angry monopolists.
If you had to choose between educating your child or not, which would you choose?
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Big Publishing Companies have long Ripped Off Students.
Children need Education and they do not need to be thieved in order to better themselves and to better our Civilization with their Discoveries and Accomplishments.
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Educating some poor country's children isn't an issue for the wealthy publishing companies. The executives and stockholders can educate their children just fine at the Ivy League colleges they send them to, paid for by the price gouging that killed off their market in Guyana.
"No. They have realized that the price being asked far exceeds its ability to pay."
This is the thing that IP-focused companies don't understand. As parasites, you can bleed your host dry, but if you do, they're not going to be a good host anymore. If you price your infinitely reproducible products out of the hands of otherwise legitimate customers, you can't make any money off of them rather than the amount they're willing and able to pay. So once again, would they like some money or no money?
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Millions of lawyers worldwide would love to know!
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Why negotiate when you can sue
These companies don't negociate. It is much easier to listen at the lawers telling them that they have a case of easy money. They are not working for you, but for their pocket. They get paid win or lose, so for them they want to have conflict between as many people as possible. There's plently of examples on Techdirt to support this.
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So when we go into wars with countries with resources don't always assume it's to use their resources, it could very well be to stop the distribution of their resources and to put resourced land into the hands of fewer entities to inflate prices.
(and I know this viewpoint isn't entirely true, and in fact Iraq is allegedly expected to increase oil production within the next few years, but it's an alternative viewpoint nonetheless).
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Joel Wing writes
"In fact, the U.S. invasion reduced Iraq's exports for the next 8 years. It wasn't until 2011 that export levels reached pre-war numbers."
http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2011/04/was-iraq-war-about-oil.html
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wars CAN NOT ever be paid for unless a very oppressive government is taxing the peasants into starvation or the someone is intentionally inflating a currency
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Still doesn't make it right
I don't say that's a ridiculous analogy to books, because knows IS power.
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Counterfeit? If they bought a counterfeit power plant, that would imply that it is worthless, meaning it would produce no power or at the very most, inadequate power.
On the book front, they are not buying counterfeit books. They are buying illegally copied books. These books have the exact same content as the more expensive, and consequently unaffordable, legal copies. So Guyana is getting all the benefits at a far cheaper cost.
because knows IS power
Glad to "knows" we don't have to worry about you gaining too much power.
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Re: Still doesn't make it right
Well, the text books are just as good as the legitimate ones. So, to make a proper comparison between these counterfeit books and your hypothetical power plant; it would be like GE charging $100 million for a plant but a counterfeit one that is just as safe and just as efficient is only $30 million. Yeah, I wouldn't blame anyone for taking that option.
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Ah, the gray market. I get my best computer hardware from there. And it isn't illegal, though stupid companies would love to shut it down. The smart companies don't, as they realize it is better to sell an expensive and a cheap model and take all of the money off the table. The folks with expendable cash flow will buy the expensive one for the name recognition, while the guys who need it cheap will buy the cheaper one. Eventually, they will have enough money to go out and buy the expensive one...Win-Win for the manufacturer.
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Step 1: Patent dissemination of information and education on subjects such as mathematics
Step 2: Watch global IP-based economy grind to a screeching halt amidst patent and copyright lawsuits
Step 3: ???
Step 4: PROFIT
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Re: CopyRight, Begone!
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Trivia
Just to prove the point that something needs to be done, when public discussion isn't enough.
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Didn't anyone else see this great pun in the article?
Oh come on, these are educational book publishers, are THEY going to learn? Nope, it costs too much.......... :)-
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answering my own question; kickbacks is why.
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Tha majority of the blame its on the teachers/educators...
Textbooks from a specific editor?... they are not based on facts?... Can't organize their government to edit its own textbooks?
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Possibly, but even though, as you have pointed out, 18th century literature hasn't changed in the past several years, the academic thinking and interpretations of those works may indeed be an ever-changing thing. I'm not into 18th century literature so I can't say, but a textbook is more than just a copy of the works. It is also filled with the prevalent academic points of view on those works.
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History books, on the other hand...
But, yeah, probably only need to get new textbooks once every 15 years or so for most classes.
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Now you're just making things up and proving that you have no clue what you're talking about.
The teachers don't demand the latest textbooks, I've had teachers that allowed students to use the last edition and the edition before. The fault does not lie with the teachers but entirely with the publishers. Most teachers complain about textbook prices and the rate that textbook editions change and about the fact that the changes are insignificant, if you think otherwise you are very very ignorant. Most teachers think it's a scam.
When the publishers put out a new textbook they discontinue the old one and over time there aren't enough old textbooks to provide for new students (not to mention textbook quality deteriorates with age as books get resold and resold). This forces schools to buy new textbooks. If we abolish IP then we can very well continue reprinting the old textbooks, especially lower level math books, instead of constantly needing to buy new ones.
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http://www.heritage.org/index/country/guyana
I am betting a member of the government or their cronies are the source for the material, and are getting paid handsomely.
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Link
What were the effects of piracy? First, did the American industry suffer from cheaper foreign books being dumped on the domestic market? This does not seem to have been the case. After controlling for the type of work, the cost of the work, and other variables, the prices of American books were lower than prices of foreign books. American book prices may have been lower to reflect lower perceived quality or other factors that caused imperfect substitutability between foreign and local products. As might be expected, prices were not exogenously and arbitrarily fixed, but varied in accordance with a publisher�s estimation of market factors such as the degree of competition and the responsiveness of demand to determinants. The reading public appears to have gained from the lack of copyright, which increased access to the superior products of more developed markets in Europe, and in the long run this likely improved both the demand and supply of domestic science and literature.
The first rule of economics. If you price a product too high, people WILL go elsewhere.
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"Update: vmanda has provided an update stating that, at the behest of the Publishers Association, a Guyanese court has granted an injunction against local companies that illegally copy textbooks. This means the the government will no longer be able to buy pirated textbooks for the time being. There is no word yet on the government's response to the injunction."
Remember: it's not about the printing. Printing is like the shiny plastic discs that movies and music come on. It's not about that, it's about the content. Those that are just printing (and not actually writing) the work will always be cheaper, but it makes perfect sense, you remove the cost of actually producing the work and maintaining it.
Government cronies in Guyana today are sad, the courts have blocked their latest way to siphon money out of the government and into their corrupt hands. Why not look at the real story? It's not about copyright, it's about cronyism in that country.
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The students pay for their greed... Always!
But take math/algebra, pre-calculus, calculus, history of PR/USA, classical music, maybe thermodynamics, and so many more, I bet they haven't changed a bit. X^2+2XY+Y^2 while X=3 and Y=2 or the time it takes certain metal component to heat is still the same...
A round of applause for Guyana!
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http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/guyana_news/620123.html#axzz28Ap5ptFw
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If you're Guyana, you're not exactly a major IP exporter, so there's little, if any, obvious downside.
It's a cute game of brinkmanship too-- the rich powers can gnash their teeth and storm, but can't do anything... it would not exactly be marketable to say "We're sanctioning/invading this poor country to force them to buy expensive books."
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One word: Imports. Can't get the books locally? Okay, off to a foreign market for them.
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I got mine; F-U
Without getting too academic, the technical term for this paradigm (quite common in contemporary US policymaking) is "I got mine -- fuck you."
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Older editions
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