Book Publishers Association of Malawi (Bpam) has dared players in the trade to hold hands and work together to stop book piracy.
Bpam Team Leader Alfred Msadala said this on Friday during an interface with head teachers from schools in both rural and urban in Blantyre organised with funding from Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) through the Copyright Fund.
“We had to reach out to head teachers to engage and disseminate information on book piracy, which is rampant in the country. Books are being photocopied and distributed without consent and this is turning into losses for both authors and the government,” Msadala said.
He said they would be going into education divisions as part of taking up a lead role to involve more players in piracy fight.
“Piracy is real. We are trying to minimise it. We need to protect authors and publishers, who are in business,” Msadala said.
Ndirande Hill Secondary School Head teacher Wyson Phiri welcomed the engagement with Bpam, saying it would help in the fight against book piracy.
“I also happen to be an author and what is happening on the ground now is worrisome. People are just photocopying books and distributing them without consent and this is discouraging authors from writing because there are no benefits,” Phiri said.
He said there was aneed for collaboration between stakeholders to fight book piracy.
During the gathering, students from Chichiri Secondary School performed a short play that spoke about the evils of book piracy.
There were presentations that were made during the meeting and they included one from Cosoma made by Senior Licencing Officer Tikhale Chikanda, who said it was high time the country respected copyright as part of respecting talent.
He said the copyright body has been on mission fighting book piracy and that some players, who have been found guilty, have been fined heavily.
During the event, there was a display of books by publishers such as Claim Mabuku, Dzuka and renowned writer John Lwanda.
