For Immediate Release

Summary of the Trip to Asia in 2005 September

AAP’s peripatetic executive director for international copyright enforcement and trade policy, Patricia Judd, has spent much of the last few months “on the road” in Asia and elsewhere, as AAP’s overseas copyright enforcement efforts continue to gain momentum. The following is a year-end roundup of the program.

Beginning with a month in Asia in September for meetings with local representatives of AAP member publishing houses, government officials and local publishers in the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong SAR, and Taiwan, she was joined in Beijing by AAP President Pat Schroeder and high-level representatives of a number of AAP member companies for groundbreaking talks with Chinese government officials on issues including textbook piracy at university “textbook centers,” market access and the Internet, and business opportunities for publishers in China.

Key discussions, arranged in cooperation with the U.K. Publishers Association and the Publishers Association of China, occurred at a joint, invitation-only event entitled “Intellectual Property in the Global Economy: China’s Place in the World Publishing Community,” held near the site of the Beijing International Book Fair. The event brought representatives of the PRC and US governments together with Chinese scholars and industry representatives for a dialogue on intellectual property protection for books in China. From AAP’s viewpoint, the discussion was productive. AAP representatives were able to address the piracy situation in China, stressing the industry’s willingness to work with the government to find solutions and highlighting potential investments by AAP and PA member companies in China given assurances that it is a safe market to enter. The AAP delegation was pleased that several Chinese government officials were willing to speak directly to the problem as well.

The seminar was followed by a series of smaller meetings with Chinese government officials to discuss piracy, market access and next steps. AAP will continue to work with the Chinese government in attempts to reduce the size of the piracy problem faced by member companies in China.

In South Korea, Ms. Judd met with Ministry of Education officials to discuss ongoing concerns about the level of textbook piracy on South Korean campuses. AAP is working with the Ministry of Education to develop strategies for reducing the magnitude of the problem. The Ministry’s level of involvement has greatly increased in recent months, beginning with a letter from the Minister of Education to every university in Korea last spring asking that an action plan for reducing book piracy on campus be put in place at each institution. The letter resulted from an AAP-initiated U.S. government request. At the September meeting, the results of the campaign were presented in an encouraging continuation of the dialogue between the ministry and the U.S. publishing industry. Ms. Judd also met with representatives of the newly organized Copyright Protection Center (CPC), a quasi-governmental organization with an enforcement mandate. AAP plans to monitor the CPC’s activities in the coming months.

Successful raids on rogue copying facilities have been carried out in South Korea all year, and AAP members were engaged in raids during Ms. Judd’s visit. AAP plans to expand its educational and enforcement activities in 2006.

The focus of the Hong Kong visit was a long-term legislative battle, now in its final stages, pertaining to revisions of the copyright law. Most of Ms. Judd’s meetings centered on this issue, and although substantive progress has been made since the battle began in 2001, the end-result is problematic. AAP is working to preserve its international position and will monitor the market following passage of the bill to measure its effect.

Contrasting with the Hong Kong government’s policy positions, enforcement authorities in the territory are eager to work with AAP to attack an elusive problem. With copyshops increasingly moving underground, enforcement authorities must be willing to change the way they operate to deal with new challenges. The Hong Kong authorities are evidencing this flexibility and on the eve of Ms. Judd’s visit, the Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department conducted a successful raid on an underground facility, which resulted in a substantial seizure. Hong Kong’s willingness to adapt to changes will help ensure that their enforcement efforts remain effective.

The Taiwan representatives group, having partnered with local publishers to form their own organization, remains AAP’s most active group in Asia. The organization, the Taiwan Book Publishers Association (TBPA), now has a full time staff of two and is working closely with government officials and other industry representatives on a number of policy issues, educational initiatives and enforcement efforts. They are funded partly by an AAP contribution and partly by individual member assessments. This is clearly a model for other programs in the region. Along with TBPA representatives, Ms. Judd met with a number of high-ranking government officials during her visit. Visits included the Ministry of Justice (in charge of police and prosecution units), the Ministry of the Interior (in charge of the specialized intellectual property police unit), the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (in charge of copyright policy and educational initiatives) and the Ministry of Education. As in South Korea, the Ministry of Education meeting was very productive, with the Vice Minister of Education making a commitment to address the issues raised and making assignments to his staff during the meeting.

An interesting development resulted from a meeting with the Vice Minister of the Interior. A dentist by training, the Vice Minister was appalled at the quality of the medical illustrations contained in an illegally photocopied book obtained the previous day at Taiwan’s most prestigious medical college. This led to a serious discussion of the ways in which such books compromise the quality of education in Taiwan. The Vice Minister was quite concerned and she expressed doubt that any student could pass the course using a book whose illustrations were indecipherable. She assumed that students would eventually all have to buy the legitimate copies with the full color illustrations in order to pass, asserting that the photocopying phenomenon could not be taking over the market. Ms. Judd assured her that students are, in fact, learning from inferior illegal photocopies alone.

Ms. Judd will return to Asia in January 2006, to visit China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore and India, following up on the progress made and visiting some of AAP’s other priority territories. Other trips are planned later in the year.

For more on AAP’s International Copyright Protection Program contact Patricia Judd, AAP Washington, pjudd@publishers.org.

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