LookAtVietnam – Pirated books and illegally-copied documents still exist, in part because of high student demand. Government agencies have yet to find a proper solution.

Stroll by a photocopying shop near a big university in Hanoi and one will see shops full of students. They come to find documents needed to prepare for their exams.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, a third year student of the Hanoi University of Education, said that she only purchased books and documents in her first semester. Now she “finds” them at the photocopy shop.

“You can find everything here. All documents are very cheap and they are diversified for you to choose,” Huyen said, adding that if she purchased books at the book stores, she would waste hundreds of thousands of dong, a big sum of money for a student.

Quang Huy, a student of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, also said that students need many books that the university’s library cannot provide.

“Previously, I had to look for books at old book stores, or borrow books from friends to photocopy,” he complained. “Now I only go to photocopy shops. I can save big money with photocopied documents.”

A photocopy shop owner in Hanoi remarked that students “do not need beautiful books, they just need the content. Therefore, they prefer photocopied books.”

In the shops students can find reference books and documents for learning, as well as CD disks and software for English learning. Since these are pirated, the learning aids have “soft” prices, about 7-20,000 dong.

Minh, the owner of a big bookstore at Hanoi University, said that a copyrighted disk for learning English is $10, unaffordable for students. Therefore, pirated disks with prices of 1/10 the original price has been the choice of many students.

Small infringement?

Government agencies can only keep a close eye on big cases in which several thousand tons of books are illegally copied. They do not have time to control small photocopying shops.

To help students purchase and use copyrighted books, some universities have cooperated with publishing houses to organize “book days” during which 10-40 percent price discounts are offered.

Students say that such discounts are nothing compared to the large number of books they need. Therefore, they continue going to photocopier shops.

Lawyers have urged government agencies to control copyright infringement strictly, especially when Vietnam joined the Berne and Rome Conventions. They have also urged agencies to inspect photocopier’s shops and impose heavy fines for illegal copying.

Yet even the lawyers admit this will not be an easy job.

VietNamNet/Van Hoa