The popularity of Harry Potter, the book series first coming to wide notice in the late 1990s, has led to the appearance of a number of locally produced, unauthorized sequels and other derivative works in China. Although not exhaustive, the list includes “Harry Potter and the Hiking Dragon”, “Harry Potter and the Chinese Empire”, “Harry Potter and the Young Heroes”, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Harry Potter”, “Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-up-to-Dragon”, “Harry Potter and the Big Funnel”, “Harry Potter and the Golden Armor”, “Harry Potter and the Crystal Vase”, and on and on.
While many on the lists were bound versions “published” by underground publishers, some were published by authorized local publishers that do not own the copyright of the book. The contents of these books have nothing to do with the originator of the series, the British J. K. Rowling, but work of some industrious anonymous Chinese authors, all placed in the service of counterfeiting, literary fraud and copyright violation. These books are sold on street corners and can even be found in school libraries. And more free versions can be easily found online.
It is interesting to see how the Chinese government dealt with this copyright infringement. In 2002, Ba Shu Publishing Company, after printing “Harry Potter and the Chinese Empire”, “Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-up-to-Dragon”, and several other series, was accused by Rowling and Warner Bro., and as a result, was punished to pay a £1,600 (US$3,400) fine and publish an apology in China's Legal Times for printing and distributing the novel. Similar to many other copyright infringement cases, the fine was negligible comparing with the revenue generated from printing and circulating the fake books. And the government seems to be fine with it. According to insiders in China’s publishing industry, “the government’s focus is not to fight against piracy, but for banned publications like pornography, political books, and historical matters like the Culture Revolution and the Anti-Rightist Campaign.” For copyright infringement, the government “settles matters by leaving them unsettled”.
Perhaps from the government’s perspective, it is more important to provide job opportunities to the illiterate migrators than to fight against piracy. “Stability matters the most”. Since 1990s, there has been a macro trend in China that farmers are migrating from the poor countryside to the richer cities in search of a better life. These people are majority of the nation and are thus cornerstone of China’s “social stability” that underpins “sustainable development”. The government needs to keep those positions which do not require higher education. Printing and circulating fake books as well as selling them at street corners are such jobs that match the government’s requirement.
As a support on the above argument, An Boshun, editor of one of the biggest-selling works of Chinese fiction in recent years, “Wolf Totem”, said he once “received a call from someone who said that he represented two pirate book businessmen and they wanted him to say thanks to An Boshun for his work”, since that “‘Wolf Totem’ had brought many job opportunities to country folks working in printing shops in Hebei and Shandong Provinces.” It was estimated that there were at least 15 million fake copies of “Wolf Totem” being sold, compared with 2 million legal ones.
Aside from local publisher and government who seem to have done very little in fighting against piracy, Chinese web conglomerate also jointly helped the circulation of fake contents. Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU), recognized as “China’s Google”, has a Harry Portal Fan Page that has attracted big traffic from Harry Porter fans. Many fake Harry Potter books quickly logged thousands of readers once they are posted on this fan page. “This is fantastic,” Gu Guaiguai, an admiring reader, wrote online about a fake Harry Potter book “Harry Potter and the Showdown”, which attracted 150,000 readers on Baidu within a few days when the author of the book placed it on Baidu. Gu Guaigua wrote, “I wonder if Rowling would bother to continue to write if she had read it.”
Besides providing such forums with no copyright protection, Baidu also provides a music search engine allowing people to search and download piratic mp3 songs and music for free. Baidu generates huge traffic by providing services facilitating the distribution of fraudulent contents, contributing to its over $40 billion market cap in Nasdaq. So, it seems that even the Wall Street shareholders are benefiting from the copyright infringement problems in China?
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/world/asia/31iht-china.1.6915542.html?pagewanted=all
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_disputes_over_the_Harry_Potter_series
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=BIDU
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