Police officers from the Ministry of Public Security and inspectors from the Department of Information and Communications in the capital city on January 8 paid visits to the house at No. 3 in alley 89 in Ngo Thi Sy Street and a warehouse in Van Phuc Ward in Ha Dong District confiscating 50 tittles comprising of over 40,000 pirated books.
Among the pirated books are some of First News, Alpha Books, Tre and Nha Nam’s best-selling titles such as Hanh trinh ve phuong Dong (Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East) , Muon kiep nhan sinh ( Many Lives – Many times), Bi mat tu duy trieu phu ( Secrets of the Millionaire Mind), Quang ganh lo di ma vui song (How to Stop Worrying and Start Living) , Dac nhan tam ( How to Win Friends and Influence People).
Seized books weighed around 15 tons; therefore, four trucks were sent to the houses to carry all. The investigation was considered as the biggest case of pirated books for years in Hanoi.
Nguyen Thi Khoai hailing from Thanh Oai District in Hanoi reportedly managed the two venues; however, she couldn’t produce any papers to prove that these books are legally printed and published and the origin of books.
Nguyen Van Phuoc, director of First News - Tri Viet said that the company and related agencies have been looking for the rings to print counterfeit books for years. They have discovered many rings and venues to sell counterfeit books in streets Duong Lang, Tran Quoc Hoan and Pham Van Dong in Hanoi.
Additionally, a large quantity of counterfeit books is sold in e-commerce platforms, fan pages, and community groups in social networks such as Facebook.
In September, 2020, First News - Tri Viet Publishing House officially filed a copyright lawsuit against Alibaba-owned online marketplace Lazada for failure to handle vendors selling 'counterfeit books' on its platform. Moreover, First News- Tri Viet Publishing House and Alpha Books announced 45 fan pages which sell many 'fake versions' of its books with poor quality and errors.
Widespread availability of pirated books produced with sophisticated counterfeiting techniques circulating on the market is the pain and suffering of the publishing sector causing big loss for the publishers and authors. Counterfeit books have even higher price than the original ones from 30 percent- 50 percent and then sellers offered discount to cheat buyers.
Pirated books can fool consumers at first look because of their similar appearance to the genuine ones; however, the difference lies in the quality of the paper used, the book-binding technique, and the content inside. They are poorly made with thinner paper, untidy prints, and pictures with fuzzy or uneven color shades.
