Book piracy leads to an increase in the prices of genuine books.
KARACHI: I read a piece in the Speaker’s Corner section of this newspaper by Shabbir Mir titled “Modern syllabus” (July 31). The writer has talked about the poor quality of printing and binding of school textbooks and gives the example of an Oxford textbook New Active English.
He is clearly basing his opinion on a pirated version of the book. I believe that book piracy leads to an increase in the prices of genuine books as it shrinks the market and prevents people from accruing the benefits of scale economies. Ultimately, book piracy diminishes the image and branding of bona fide publishers.
Ameena Saiyid
Managing Director of the Oxford University Press
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2012.
