For Immediate Release

October 31, 2006

Contact: Deidre Huntington
Ph: (202) 220-4550
Email: dhuntington@publishers.org

Chinese Textbook Raid Yields Thousands of Pirated Copies

October 31, 2006, Washington, DC: Acting on a complaint filed by The Publishers Association, U.K. (PA) and the Association of American Publishers (AAP), copyright and law enforcement authorities in China’s Hubei Province seized more than  2,000 suspected pirated copies of academic textbooks at the Tongji Medical College textbook center, affiliated with Huazhong University in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China.

In the September 22 raid  authorities also seized records containing evidence that the textbook center had produced more than 2,500 copies of the approximately 70 titles that were identified on the university’s syllabus. Some of the titles found in the raid included works by AAP and PA members Princeton University Press, McGraw-Hill, Elsevier,  and Taylor & Francis.

It was also reported that the police (PSB) had arrested four people from the textbook center on charges related to the illegal production.

AAP and the PA have been working closely with Chinese authorities for the past eighteen  months to crack down on the systematic copying of copyrighted materials at textbook centers on university campuses throughout China. This raid marks the third public action taken by authorities to combat this illegal activity, coming on the heels of  summer raids in Wuhan and Shanghai.

Photographs of the illegal operation are available on request from Emilia Varga-West at AAP (evargawest@publishers.org).

The Publishers Association is the leading trade organization serving book, journal and electronic publishers in the UK. It brings publishers together to discuss the main issues facing the industry and to define the practical policies that will take the industry forward. The aim of The Publishers Association is to serve and promote by all lawful means the interest of book journal and electronic publishers and to protect those interests.

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies.  AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.

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