Publishers' Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Incursions of Pirates into the Nigerian Book Market and Countermeasures in the Electronic Age
Year: 2026
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: One of the serious problems that Nigerian Book Publishers have had to contend with over time is piracy. Book piracy has been defined by Ifeduba (2004: p. 151) as "the commercial reproduction and sale of another's copyright book without the authorization of, or payment to its owner". Okwilagwe (2001: p. 175) describes the scope as being "all paper-based printed materials". Apart from the normal run-of-the-mills pirates, people who photocopy entire books instead of purchasing them are also pirates (Ifeduba, 2004). Bankole (2002: p. 37) also identifies another group, those he calls money launderers: These are people who make money illegally overseas, more often through drug peddling and now repatriate such money into the country through massive piracy of books, CDs and Videos. Thomas (1971: p. 43) identifies three forms of piracy: a. illegal reproduction of books for sale by booksellers and traders;b. photocopy of printed matter for sale; andc. unauthorized translation of copyright material for commercial purposes. Piracy amounts to copyright theft or infringement as it violates the sanctity of copyright which is the right of control that an author or a publisher exercise in law over the use which others make of his work. The widening incursion of pirates into the book market has remained a force to reckon with and a menace that has defied virtually every attempt to curb it. The debilitating effects of the nefarious activities of book pirates are clearly seen on the finances of copyright owners like book publishers in the form of dwindling revenues and authors in royalties that are not in the same proportion with invested efforts and time. Long term consequences manifest as dearth of quality books due to lack of impetus and absence of incentives and a national economy that could have been more robust but remains largely the same owing to the fact that pirates do not pay taxes. Piracy, not combated, will easily lead to the collapse of the book industry (Okwilagwe, 2001). It will stultify creativity and deprive the nation of the economic gains of the copyright system (Popoola, 1991). Veteran book marketer and one-time Chief Executive of Longman Nigeria Plc, now Learn Africa Plc, Daniel Obidiegwu drives this further home when he writes that the magnitude of the economic, social and intellectual calamity that piracy inflicts on the nation is unfathomable, considering the fact that pirates pay no taxes on their illegal earnings (Obidiegwu, 2011). In concrete terms, revenues annually lost to piracy are calculated in billions of naira. As far back as 1993, book publishers were losing about one million dollars annually to book pirates. This amount translated to more than 20%20% of the annual turnover of all the membersfirms of Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA) (Ifeduba, 2004). Less than 10 years after, the amount lost to piracy annually has increased to 200million dollars or by 200%200% (Okwilagwe, 2001). Pirates pirate books discriminatorily as only successful titles are pirated. Books that are not doing well in the market are ignored for the high-fliers. As early as 1985, among the more than the 30 publishing houses available in Nigeria then, more than 5%5% have had one or more of their titles pirated (Okwilagwe, Op. cit) By the turn of the 21st century, however, hardly could any publisher boast of being free from pirate attack. As technology advances, the problem worsens. First is the varnishing line of distinction between original and pirated copies. In the past, pirates used cheap paper type and bought low quality printing service thus making their products easily identifiable from the original. Nkiko (2013) identifies one of the forms of book piracy as local reproduction of fast-moving titles using newsprint or poor textured paper. Now, with gains harnessed from past activities, pirates can match the copyright owner quality for quality. Areo (2011: p. 279) puts it this way: With improved printing technology now easily available, it may be difficult to distinguish copies of a pirated book from the legitimate or genuine original. In fact, even to achieve greater, sophisticated quality, some very daring pirates have been known to go to some countries in the far East where they get high quality printing at low costs. Apart from the above, pirates are now getting their job done even at a far cheaper cost than before because of technology. This makes the vice more profitable and consequently more attractive. Tiamiyu (2005: p. 150) has this to say: The information and electronic revolution have been making it less expensive for end-users to make illegal copies of copyrighted material through photocopies and scanners, and through the sharing and networking of data downloaded from websites and CD-Rom product. Next is the completion time. Technology has made it possible for pirates to circumvent some stages in the traditional process of book publishing. According to Adelekan (2001: p. 7): The modern electronic technology has enabled man to conquer space and distance. Individuals can learn in a variety of locations at convenient times and at their own rate by means of electronic devices such as the CD-Rom, Website, Internet, audio and visual materials. A book pirate can now grab a new edition of a title, rush to press within or outside the country and hit the market with his copies shortly after the publisher, about the time the consumer is ready to place his orders, then effectively undersell the copyright owner as a result of lack of origination and other incidental expenses in his own operation. Furthermore, technology has opened up many channels of communication which pirates can use to warn one another of impending raids or imminent arrest. Finally, because pirates sometimes come into operation only after observing gaps between demand and supply (Nkiko 2012), which sometimes is caused by the sheer distance between locations in Nigeria that is too far to cover by publishers within the necessary time frame (Lawal-Solarin, 2001), technology can aid them in identifying where such gaps exist. Through a single phone call, a pirate can get to know where publishers are dill-dallying to supply desired books. Happily, it appears strongly that as much as technology is used to perpetrate the crime of book piracy, it can also be used to combat it. According to Tiamiyu (2005), Nigeria publishers must be aware that the electronic revolution provides opportunities for both legal owners and potential pirates. Perhaps one of the reasons that piracy has remained such a hard not to crack in Nigeria is the absence or paucity of punitive measures meted out to copyright offenders. From the Government, the battle against book piracy is nonexistent or at least lukewarm or half-hearted. The Nigerian copyright law as enshrined in Decree no 61 of 1970 is, to all intents and purposes, outdated and lacks the potential to cope with the enormity and relative sophistication of the current operations of pirates (Iwerebon, 1988). Under the criminal code before it was amended, the offence of piracy is regarded as a simple one and therefore attracts a fine of two pounds (N20) for every infringed copy to a maximum of 50 pounds (N500). Similarly, the copyright law requires that the plaintiff/complainant prove that the pirate committed the offence knowingly. Apart from the ridiculously low penalty for infringement, the onus of ignorance should be shifted to the accused/respondent under the widely accepted axiom that "ignorance of the law is no excuse" (Iwerebon, op. cit.). Piracy is a menace that should be handled with all seriousness not only because it is an intellectual theft but also because it threatens qualitative education. According to (Nkiko 2013: p. 1): The provision of qualitative education in any country is a function of the robustness of its book publishing industry. The contribution of books and journals to teaching, learning and research is indispensable. They remain the unassailable fulcrum upon which the gamut of scholarship revolves. Oklwilagwe (2001, in tune with Nikko, describes education as the backbone of development and also identifies the book as a principal element in the educational process. Ekwueme (1983) sees the book as being central to natural development, the development of man himself and fulfillment of his potential. Piracy, therefore, can be seen as a hydra-headed monster which is capable of bringing far reaching undesirable consequences on the book industry, education, creativity and the nation as a whole. From the perspectives of book publishers and other stakeholders, this paper examines the depth and implications of the incursion of piracy into the Nigerian book market and ways to combat the menace especially in this electronic age where pirated copies are hardly distinguishable from the originals, where speed is no longer a weapon exclusively available to the legitimate copyright owners, where gathering intelligence to aid intellectual theft is just a phone call away, an age where technology makes it relatively easy to, at once, perpetrate and check the menace.
Author: ONI, Matthew Kolawole
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7165630800