Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Although I said I wasn't gonna post here any more, I think I need to post the following letter from the Council of Oriental Medical Publishers. Recently, Eastland Press, Paradigm Press, and Blue Poppy Press have learned that one or more CDs/DVDs with pirated versions of our copyrighten books have been/are circulating through the schools. This theft of intellectual property has amounted to approximately $1 million of lost sales during 2006 to the publishers whose books appear on these CDs/DVDs as well as to book distributors and bookstores in the U.S. The following letter is the agreed upon postion of the Council of Oriental Medical Publishers (COMP). This letter has been sent to all U.S. schools of acupuncture/Chinese medicine: December 7, 20067 Dear School Administrator, As publishers whose work is dedicated to the growth and advancement of knowledge about acupuncture and Chinese medicine, we are writing to tell you about a problem that may limit our ability to publish further books for students and practitioners. This problem, a serious and ongoing copyright infringement, is due to the illegal duplicating of a DVD disks containing upwards of 162 text books commonly used in schools of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. This disk has been actively and widely circulated through our schools and colleges to students from coast to coast. Publishers in our industry, as well as many acupuncture college book stores, have seen a significant downturn in their sales due to the circulation of this disk. Thus, already this DVD has had a direct and negative financial impact upon the livelihoods of many people. In our small industry, the decision to write and publish a new book on Chinese medicine is often, at least partially, based on the hope that schools such as yours may require the book for one of their classes. As long as there is this possibility, we publishers have more incentive to take the financial risk of publishing new titles. The impact is obvious if students are permitted to illegally duplicate titles and no longer purchase the actual textbooks. If allowed to continue, the financial consequences that are already being felt will affect publishers, authors, school book stores, school curricula, practitioners, and students throughout our industry. It also leads publishers to question whether they can continue to bring out new books or keep their current titles in print. To help all of us deal effectively with this problem, we ask your awareness of and cooperation responding to the following items. 1. Unexpected use of lap-top computers instead of textbooks in class and study groups. 2. Bound computer-printed versions of required texts. 3. Bound computer-printed compilations of pages from different texts. 4. Student papers that were clearly compiled by the electronic searching of textbooks including references above-and-beyond what may be accessed via an index. 5. Increased " disk exchange " activity among students. 6. The transfer of unusually large files on school email systems to which students have access. Next, please monitor any private on-line email discussion groups (list services) or bulletin board services for threads concerning the electronic exchange of electronic textbooks. A number of instructors have required their classes to bring their required texts to a class session. This has revealed those students who have not purchased the texts. These instructors asked for the disk copies to be handed-in and for the offending students to appear at a forthcoming class session with legitimate texts. Finally, we ask that you implement some sanction for those who have participated in this crime. The practice of medicine requires human beings with high ethical or moral standards. At Western medical schools in the U.S., such theft would be grounds for expulsion from the college. While you may feel that such action is impossible for your school, we ask that you give this request serious consideration. In particular, we feel that anyone involved in the distribution of this illegal disk, whether for free or for profit, be disciplined in the strongest manner that your college feels appropriate. If you have any questions about this letter or the matter in general, please contact any of us. . It is always our desire to work cooperatively with the schools and colleges in our industry to improve and expand the knowledge, literature, and understanding of this important medical tradition. We hope we can count on your support in return to deal with this problem swiftly and effectively. Yours sincerely, Robert Felt Paradigm Publications John O'Conner Eastland Press Bob Flaws Blue Poppy Enterprises, Inc. CHA readers of this letter should also note that the FBI has been alerted to this Federal felony, and we publishers will be seeking our own criminal remedies in addition to the above request asking the schools to sanction any of their students found to have participated in these illegal acts. Regretfully, Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Bob, I was shocked to read your note this morning. I have already forwarded it to the Dean and President of my alma mater (Bastyr) and requested that they take a strong stand and expel those individuals found with these materials. I would like to encourage the other professionals reading this list to do the same. This kind of behavior is unacceptable and criminal. Although I'm not an author I've participated in the editorial review of several books by people in our community. I know the extraordinary efforts and financial risk that is associated with bringing these materials to market. To have the entire publishing community put at risk by such thoughtless behavior is disheartening to say the least. Thank you for the heads up on this issue. Michael , " Bob Flaws " <pemachophel2001 wrote: > > Although I said I wasn't gonna post here any more, I think I need to > post the following letter from the Council of Oriental Medical > Publishers. Recently, Eastland Press, Paradigm Press, and Blue Poppy > Press have learned that one or more CDs/DVDs with pirated versions of > our copyrighten books have been/are circulating through the schools. > This theft of intellectual property has amounted to approximately $1 > million of lost sales during 2006 to the publishers whose books appear > on these CDs/DVDs as well as to book distributors and bookstores in > the U.S. The following letter is the agreed upon postion of the > Council of Oriental Medical Publishers (COMP). This letter has been > sent to all U.S. schools of acupuncture/Chinese medicine: > > December 7, 20067 > > Dear School Administrator, > > As publishers whose work is dedicated to the growth and advancement of > knowledge about acupuncture and Chinese medicine, we are writing to > tell you about a problem that may limit our ability to publish further > books for students and practitioners. This problem, a serious and > ongoing copyright infringement, is due to the illegal duplicating of a > DVD disks containing upwards of 162 text books commonly used in > schools of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. This disk has been > actively and widely circulated through our schools and colleges to > students from coast to coast. Publishers in our industry, as well as > many acupuncture college book stores, have seen a significant downturn > in their sales due to the circulation of this disk. Thus, already this > DVD has had a direct and negative financial impact upon the > livelihoods of many people. > > In our small industry, the decision to write and publish a new book on > Chinese medicine is often, at least partially, based on the hope that > schools such as yours may require the book for one of their classes. > As long as there is this possibility, we publishers have more > incentive to take the financial risk of publishing new titles. The > impact is obvious if students are permitted to illegally duplicate > titles and no longer purchase the actual textbooks. If allowed to > continue, the financial consequences that are already being felt will > affect publishers, authors, school book stores, school curricula, > practitioners, and students throughout our industry. It also leads > publishers to question whether they can continue to bring out new > books or keep their current titles in print. To help all of us deal > effectively with this problem, we ask your awareness of and > cooperation responding to the following items. > > 1. Unexpected use of lap-top computers instead of textbooks in class > and study groups. > 2. Bound computer-printed versions of required texts. > 3. Bound computer-printed compilations of pages from different texts. > 4. Student papers that were clearly compiled by the electronic > searching of textbooks including references above-and-beyond what may > be accessed via an index. > 5. Increased " disk exchange " activity among students. > 6. The transfer of unusually large files on school email systems to > which students have access. > > Next, please monitor any private on-line email discussion groups (list > services) or bulletin board services for threads concerning the > electronic exchange of electronic textbooks. > > A number of instructors have required their classes to bring their > required texts to a class session. This has revealed those students > who have not purchased the texts. These instructors asked for the > disk copies to be handed-in and for the offending students to appear > at a forthcoming class session with legitimate texts. > > Finally, we ask that you implement some sanction for those who have > participated in this crime. The practice of medicine requires human > beings with high ethical or moral standards. At Western medical > schools in the U.S., such theft would be grounds for expulsion from > the college. While you may feel that such action is impossible for > your school, we ask that you give this request serious consideration. > In particular, we feel that anyone involved in the distribution of > this illegal disk, whether for free or for profit, be disciplined in > the strongest manner that your college feels appropriate. > > If you have any questions about this letter or the matter in general, > please contact any of us. . It is always our desire to work > cooperatively with the schools and colleges in our industry to improve > and expand the knowledge, literature, and understanding of this > important medical tradition. We hope we can count on your support in > return to deal with this problem swiftly and effectively. > > Yours sincerely, > > Robert Felt > Paradigm Publications > > John O'Conner > Eastland Press > > Bob Flaws > Blue Poppy Enterprises, Inc. > > CHA readers of this letter should also note that the FBI has been > alerted to this Federal felony, and we publishers will be seeking our > own criminal remedies in addition to the above request asking the > schools to sanction any of their students found to have participated > in these illegal acts. > > Regretfully, > > Bob > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Bob, thanks for this. I will forward this to Tai, incase they have not seen this letter. BTW- I was sorry to see you leave the list- I got the article on menopause too late to comment on it. The short answer: liu wei di huang wan does clear liver heat because of the inclusion on mu dan pi. It¹s easy to forget what a brilliant formula it is because it is often used indiscriminately for hot flashes. But the more you deconstruct it, the more interesting it is. Cara O. Frank, R.Ac, Dipl Ac & Ch.H. President China Herb Company of the Chinese Herb Program Tai Sophia Institute of the Healing Arts 215-438-2977 Fax 215-849-3338 Bob Flaws <pemachophel2001 Mon, 11 Dec 2006 17:02:34 +0000 Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy Although I said I wasn't gonna post here any more, I think I need to post the following letter from the Council of Oriental Medical Publishers. Recently, Eastland Press, Paradigm Press, and Blue Poppy Press have learned that one or more CDs/DVDs with pirated versions of our copyrighten books have been/are circulating through the schools. This theft of intellectual property has amounted to approximately $1 million of lost sales during 2006 to the publishers whose books appear on these CDs/DVDs as well as to book distributors and bookstores in the U.S. The following letter is the agreed upon postion of the Council of Oriental Medical Publishers (COMP). This letter has been sent to all U.S. schools of acupuncture/Chinese medicine: December 7, 20067 Dear School Administrator, As publishers whose work is dedicated to the growth and advancement of knowledge about acupuncture and Chinese medicine, we are writing to tell you about a problem that may limit our ability to publish further books for students and practitioners. This problem, a serious and ongoing copyright infringement, is due to the illegal duplicating of a DVD disks containing upwards of 162 text books commonly used in schools of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. This disk has been actively and widely circulated through our schools and colleges to students from coast to coast. Publishers in our industry, as well as many acupuncture college book stores, have seen a significant downturn in their sales due to the circulation of this disk. Thus, already this DVD has had a direct and negative financial impact upon the livelihoods of many people. In our small industry, the decision to write and publish a new book on Chinese medicine is often, at least partially, based on the hope that schools such as yours may require the book for one of their classes. As long as there is this possibility, we publishers have more incentive to take the financial risk of publishing new titles. The impact is obvious if students are permitted to illegally duplicate titles and no longer purchase the actual textbooks. If allowed to continue, the financial consequences that are already being felt will affect publishers, authors, school book stores, school curricula, practitioners, and students throughout our industry. It also leads publishers to question whether they can continue to bring out new books or keep their current titles in print. To help all of us deal effectively with this problem, we ask your awareness of and cooperation responding to the following items. 1. Unexpected use of lap-top computers instead of textbooks in class and study groups. 2. Bound computer-printed versions of required texts. 3. Bound computer-printed compilations of pages from different texts. 4. Student papers that were clearly compiled by the electronic searching of textbooks including references above-and-beyond what may be accessed via an index. 5. Increased " disk exchange " activity among students. 6. The transfer of unusually large files on school email systems to which students have access. Next, please monitor any private on-line email discussion groups (list services) or bulletin board services for threads concerning the electronic exchange of electronic textbooks. A number of instructors have required their classes to bring their required texts to a class session. This has revealed those students who have not purchased the texts. These instructors asked for the disk copies to be handed-in and for the offending students to appear at a forthcoming class session with legitimate texts. Finally, we ask that you implement some sanction for those who have participated in this crime. The practice of medicine requires human beings with high ethical or moral standards. At Western medical schools in the U.S., such theft would be grounds for expulsion from the college. While you may feel that such action is impossible for your school, we ask that you give this request serious consideration. In particular, we feel that anyone involved in the distribution of this illegal disk, whether for free or for profit, be disciplined in the strongest manner that your college feels appropriate. If you have any questions about this letter or the matter in general, please contact any of us. . It is always our desire to work cooperatively with the schools and colleges in our industry to improve and expand the knowledge, literature, and understanding of this important medical tradition. We hope we can count on your support in return to deal with this problem swiftly and effectively. Yours sincerely, Robert Felt Paradigm Publications John O'Conner Eastland Press Bob Flaws Blue Poppy Enterprises, Inc. CHA readers of this letter should also note that the FBI has been alerted to this Federal felony, and we publishers will be seeking our own criminal remedies in addition to the above request asking the schools to sanction any of their students found to have participated in these illegal acts. Regretfully, Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Bob; I am assuming that this will also be printed in the AAOM newsletter and Acupuncture Today? DAvid Molony In a message dated 12/11/06 12:15:08 PM, pemachophel2001 writes: > > > > > Although I said I wasn't gonna post here any more, I think I need to > post the following letter from the Council of Oriental Medical > Publishers. Recently, Eastland Press, Paradigm Press, and Blue Poppy > Press have learned that one or more CDs/DVDs with pirated versions of > our copyrighten books have been/are circulating through the schools. > This theft of intellectual property has amounted to approximately $1 > million of lost sales during 2006 to the publishers whose books appear > on these CDs/DVDs as well as to book distributors and bookstores in > the U.S. The following letter is the agreed upon postion of the > Council of Oriental Medical Publishers (COMP). This letter has been > sent to all U.S. schools of acupuncture/ sent to all U.S. > > December 7, 20067 > > Dear School Administrator, > > As publishers whose work is dedicated to the growth and advancement of > knowledge about acupuncture and Chinese medicine, we are writing to > tell you about a problem that may limit our ability to publish further > books for students and practitioners. This problem, a serious and > ongoing copyright infringement, is due to the illegal duplicating of a > DVD disks containing upwards of 162 text books commonly used in > schools of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. This disk has been > actively and widely circulated through our schools and colleges to > students from coast to coast. Publishers in our industry, as well as > many acupuncture college book stores, have seen a significant downturn > in their sales due to the circulation of this disk. Thus, already this > DVD has had a direct and negative financial impact upon the > livelihoods of many people. > > In our small industry, the decision to write and publish a new book on > Chinese medicine is often, at least partially, based on the hope that > schools such as yours may require the book for one of their classes. > As long as there is this possibility, we publishers have more > incentive to take the financial risk of publishing new titles. The > impact is obvious if students are permitted to illegally duplicate > titles and no longer purchase the actual textbooks. If allowed to > continue, the financial consequences that are already being felt will > affect publishers, authors, school book stores, school curricula, > practitioners, and students throughout our industry. It also leads > publishers to question whether they can continue to bring out new > books or keep their current titles in print. To help all of us deal > effectively with this problem, we ask your awareness of and > cooperation responding to the following items. > > 1. Unexpected use of lap-top computers instead of textbooks in class > and study groups. > 2. Bound computer-printed versions of required texts. > 3. Bound computer-printed compilations of pages from different texts. > 4. Student papers that were clearly compiled by the electronic > searching of textbooks including references above-and-beyond what may > be accessed via an index. > 5. Increased " disk exchange " activity among students. > 6. The transfer of unusually large files on school email systems to > which students have access. > > Next, please monitor any private on-line email discussion groups (list > services) or bulletin board services for threads concerning the > electronic exchange of electronic textbooks. > > A number of instructors have required their classes to bring their > required texts to a class session. This has revealed those students > who have not purchased the texts. These instructors asked for the > disk copies to be handed-in and for the offending students to appear > at a forthcoming class session with legitimate texts. > > Finally, we ask that you implement some sanction for those who have > participated in this crime. The practice of medicine requires human > beings with high ethical or moral standards. At Western medical > schools in the U.S., such theft would be grounds for expulsion from > the college. While you may feel that such action is impossible for > your school, we ask that you give this request serious consideration. > In particular, we feel that anyone involved in the distribution of > this illegal disk, whether for free or for profit, be disciplined in > the strongest manner that your college feels appropriate. > > If you have any questions about this letter or the matter in general, > please contact any of us. . It is always our desire to work > cooperatively with the schools and colleges in our industry to improve > and expand the knowledge, literature, and understanding of this > important medical tradition. We hope we can count on your support in > return to deal with this problem swiftly and effectively. > > Yours sincerely, > > Robert Felt > Paradigm Publications > > John O'Conner > Eastland Press > > Bob Flaws > Blue Poppy Enterprises, Inc. > > CHA readers of this letter should also note that the FBI has been > alerted to this Federal felony, and we publishers will be seeking our > own criminal remedies in addition to the above request asking the > schools to sanction any of their students found to have participated > in these illegal acts. > > Regretfully, > > Bob > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Michael, Thanks. I hope more members and would-be members of our profession take the same point of view. I know that, for Blue Poppy Press, if this isn't stopped in its tracks, we'll just stop publishing and concentrate on selling herbs and needles. If we can't make an honest living publishing and selling books, then we won't. This market was already too small to make any kind of real money from. It was more a labor of love. The losses which we American publishers have sustained this year due to this piracy make the margins so small that it's no longer really worth the time and effort. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Dear Bob, Just for the record, I spoke with Honora by phone today on this manner, and I have been working with Bob Felt and Jack Miller to stem the tide of this piracy. We'll start at PCOM by initiating a meeting of our department chairs (including myself) to promote measures to insure the purchase of textbooks, possibly requiring pre-payment, and disciplinary measures for anyone promoting this CD-ROM. The damage has been done, the cost much too high for our profession. If we cannot support our publishers, this indicates a profession that is rotting at the core. On Dec 11, 2006, at 2:34 PM, Bob Flaws wrote: > Michael, > > Thanks. I hope more members and would-be members of our profession > take the same point of view. I know that, for Blue Poppy Press, if > this isn't stopped in its tracks, we'll just stop publishing and > concentrate on selling herbs and needles. If we can't make an honest > living publishing and selling books, then we won't. This market was > already too small to make any kind of real money from. It was more a > labor of love. The losses which we American publishers have sustained > this year due to this piracy make the margins so small that it's no > longer really worth the time and effort. > > Bob > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 <The losses which we American publishers have sustained this year due to this piracy make the margins so small that it's no longer really worth the time and effort. Bob>> From this statement then I think it is interesting, if not sad, that the publishers are pretty much solely supported by the sale of books to new people coming into the profession. I once heard a statistic where it was said there are more lawyers in school then there are lawyers practicing. I know this isn't anywhere near the case for us, at least I think the number of practitioners far outnumbers students (someone correct me here). So, it is worrisome to me that publishers are making such a small amount from those of us already practicing, that one year's dispersal of this DVD amongst the current national student body is enough to almost sink the ship. Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 That is a good point. Are so few practitioners continuing their studies that they don't buy books on clinical Chinese medicine? Very poor prognosis for the field. On Dec 11, 2006, at 3:25 PM, Sean Doherty wrote: > <The losses which we American publishers have sustained > this year due to this piracy make the margins so small that it's no > longer really worth the time and effort. > > Bob>> > > From this statement then I think it is interesting, if not sad, > that the > publishers are pretty much solely supported by the sale of books to > new > people coming into the profession. I once heard a statistic where > it was > said there are more lawyers in school then there are lawyers > practicing. I > know this isn't anywhere near the case for us, at least I think the > number > of practitioners far outnumbers students (someone correct me here). > So, it > is worrisome to me that publishers are making such a small amount > from those > of us already practicing, that one year's dispersal of this DVD > amongst the > current national student body is enough to almost sink the ship. > > Sean > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 David, I do assume that something will appear on this subject in the AAOM newsletter and in AT. At the moment, we are focusing on the schools, the place where the problem is the most rampant. We are also waiting to hear what the FBI is going to do about all of this. I think once we know what they are going to do, then we will publicize this whole issue more widely. At the moment, we don't want to alert the main offenders while the investigation is still on-going. Somehow, some way, someone is going to hang for this. Bob P.S. Thanks for the stamps at the AAOM convention. I appreciate your thinking of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 {Here is repost I sent to another list, I find the idea is important} Dear group, Hello... I haven't been on the group in awhile, but this topic is quite provoking and I just wanted to offer my two on the spin-off topic of legitimate digital copies of books. I agree that digital versions of books are somewhat the way of the future. I personally will always want to hardbound text, but I prefer digital version for searching. This is essential with the more and more info that are getting packed into these books. For example, there was a Rx I read about in a Jiao book, but it was not in the TOC, therefore when I need it one month alter, I was never able to find it. I wish I had a digital search. I personally use a Chinese DVD (legally bought) to search 1000's of Chinese texts to find pertinent info. As you may know, Chinese texts are usually very poorly indexed and filled with an immense amount of data. I also use online search engines for Chinese journals. More importantly, I recently purchased the western book entitled, Textbook of Natural Medicine. It comes with a $29 (?) upgrade option for a online version. It is updated weekly and of course searchable. I find both the hardbound and online versions extremely useful. This concept could easily be adapted for Chinese medicine texts, and would allow the publisher to control who is accessing the digital version. Meaning the password can easily become somewhat IP / cookie dependent. Not sure on the exact details, but I know other sights that do this quite successfully. Meaning one will not be able to share the password with 100's of people. Furthermore there is no CD/DVD (digital version) to copy and pass out. Just think if you had purchased 10 major texts and could search them all on one site, or even a couple sites? Bob? Flaws? Although this is no solution to the current pirating crisis. It does offer a solution to many people's need for searchable digital copies of texts that they already own. BTW- I have asked quite a few SWAC (Boulder) students and they have never heard of it. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 To expound on this issue a bit. It seems that another issue in the schools is that many classes do not even require books. Many will have packets of notes that the students are required to buy! These packets not only many times are riddled with errors, but are condensed simplified presentations of what can find in a good solid book. I have been surprised that students that are graduating do not even know what an internal medicine book is (i.e. Fischer wu, Maclean) or how to use it. I can understand 20 years ago needing packets of handouts, but why with so many good books why do teachers try to recreate the wheel? Comments? - _____ On Behalf Of Monday, December 11, 2006 4:41 PM Re: Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy That is a good point. Are so few practitioners continuing their studies that they don't buy books on clinical Chinese medicine? Very poor prognosis for the field. On Dec 11, 2006, at 3:25 PM, Sean Doherty wrote: > <The losses which we American publishers have sustained > this year due to this piracy make the margins so small that it's no > longer really worth the time and effort. > > Bob>> > > From this statement then I think it is interesting, if not sad, > that the > publishers are pretty much solely supported by the sale of books to > new > people coming into the profession. I once heard a statistic where > it was > said there are more lawyers in school then there are lawyers > practicing. I > know this isn't anywhere near the case for us, at least I think the > number > of practitioners far outnumbers students (someone correct me here). > So, it > is worrisome to me that publishers are making such a small amount > from those > of us already practicing, that one year's dispersal of this DVD > amongst the > current national student body is enough to almost sink the ship. > > Sean > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 I think it is part of the 'feel-good' attitude of the profession, where teachers want to be 'liked' by giving packets of pre-digested notes to students. Sometimes, however, it is necessary in a minority of situations, for example, Bob Damone's translations of material on pathomechanisms, materials which are otherwise not available in English. On Dec 12, 2006, at 8:15 AM, wrote: > To expound on this issue a bit. It seems that another issue in the > schools > is that many classes do not even require books. Many will have > packets of > notes that the students are required to buy! These packets not only > many > times are riddled with errors, but are condensed simplified > presentations of > what can find in a good solid book. I have been surprised that > students that > are graduating do not even know what an internal medicine book is > (i.e. > Fischer wu, Maclean) or how to use it. I can understand 20 years > ago needing > packets of handouts, but why with so many good books why do > teachers try to > recreate the wheel? Comments? > > - > > _____ > > > On Behalf Of Z'ev > Rosenberg > Monday, December 11, 2006 4:41 PM > > Re: Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy > > That is a good point. Are so few practitioners continuing their > studies that they don't buy books on clinical Chinese medicine? Very > poor prognosis for the field. > > > On Dec 11, 2006, at 3:25 PM, Sean Doherty wrote: > > > <The losses which we American publishers have sustained > > this year due to this piracy make the margins so small that it's no > > longer really worth the time and effort. > > > > Bob>> > > > > From this statement then I think it is interesting, if not sad, > > that the > > publishers are pretty much solely supported by the sale of books to > > new > > people coming into the profession. I once heard a statistic where > > it was > > said there are more lawyers in school then there are lawyers > > practicing. I > > know this isn't anywhere near the case for us, at least I think the > > number > > of practitioners far outnumbers students (someone correct me here). > > So, it > > is worrisome to me that publishers are making such a small amount > > from those > > of us already practicing, that one year's dispersal of this DVD > > amongst the > > current national student body is enough to almost sink the ship. > > > > Sean > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Dear Group, To expound even more on my below post. It is the impression from the students that the teachers are doing them a service by not requiring them to buy books. It was reported that one teacher said, " Theses books are great, but they are expensive, here, just buy my notes. " hhmmmm.. Maybe this problem runs deeper then just a CD-ROM (DVD?). I really have a hard time believing that this one CD-Rom has caused 1 million dollars of loss in one year. If one does some simple math that would mean that, with an avg. book cost of $80, there would have to be over 3100 students that did not buy 4 books in the last year because of this CD-Rom. How many students are even in the country? I can't imagine more than 7000. That means that 50% of students did not buy 4 books. I can't even find anyone that has heard of this CD-Rom. But if these numbers are true, I am saddened and hope that something will be done. I doubt the FBI will do anything, they have much bigger fish to fry. Therefore it must come from within. Comments? - _____ On Behalf Of Tuesday, December 12, 2006 9:16 AM RE: Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy To expound on this issue a bit. It seems that another issue in the schools is that many classes do not even require books. Many will have packets of notes that the students are required to buy! These packets not only many times are riddled with errors, but are condensed simplified presentations of what can find in a good solid book. I have been surprised that students that are graduating do not even know what an internal medicine book is (i.e. Fischer wu, Maclean) or how to use it. I can understand 20 years ago needing packets of handouts, but why with so many good books why do teachers try to recreate the wheel? Comments? - _____ @ <%40> [@ <%40> ] On Behalf Of Monday, December 11, 2006 4:41 PM @ <%40> Re: Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy That is a good point. Are so few practitioners continuing their studies that they don't buy books on clinical Chinese medicine? Very poor prognosis for the field. On Dec 11, 2006, at 3:25 PM, Sean Doherty wrote: > <The losses which we American publishers have sustained > this year due to this piracy make the margins so small that it's no > longer really worth the time and effort. > > Bob>> > > From this statement then I think it is interesting, if not sad, > that the > publishers are pretty much solely supported by the sale of books to > new > people coming into the profession. I once heard a statistic where > it was > said there are more lawyers in school then there are lawyers > practicing. I > know this isn't anywhere near the case for us, at least I think the > number > of practitioners far outnumbers students (someone correct me here). > So, it > is worrisome to me that publishers are making such a small amount > from those > of us already practicing, that one year's dispersal of this DVD > amongst the > current national student body is enough to almost sink the ship. > > Sean > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Z'ev, I completely agree, I was actually going to specifically mention Bob's notes, because they are invaluable and really not found in English. I remember Bob using his notes to compliant the books and really teaching us how to use all the information together. But as we know, what I am referring to (these " other " teachers notes) can usually be found in the already published books. These condensed versions not only give a simplified impressions of the medicine, but by not allowing the students to experience the books, the students have no idea how to access the wealth of information that is really at their fingertips. Sometimes weeding through the books is a necessary step into understanding how to use them. I had a recent graduate tell me that an XYZ GYN book was too complicated, and it was not useful because it was a collection of information. I mostly use Chinese books, but I think this one is very good. Anyway, they reported that their teacher gave a simple approach that was more understandable. Hhhmm.. Interesting... It is clear that many just do not have the skills to wade through many of the " textbooks " , especially since they are not required to use or buy them. Therefore can we blame them for not wanting to buy other books when they graduate? Students follow in examples of the their teachers! Part of teaching is showing students how to use the tools that are out there. I routinely show students and graduates (wow!) how to use internal medicine books. Simple things like looking up a disease, and finding the pattern etc. is invaluable. It is amazing how many people no matter what the DISEASE will prescribe xiao yao san (or XCHT) for a liver qi constraint pattern, meaning paying little attention to the disease at hand. Really many just don't know how to use simple books to look stuff up. Enough ranting. Comments? - _____ On Behalf Of Tuesday, December 12, 2006 12:21 PM Re: Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy I think it is part of the 'feel-good' attitude of the profession, where teachers want to be 'liked' by giving packets of pre-digested notes to students. Sometimes, however, it is necessary in a minority of situations, for example, Bob Damone's translations of material on pathomechanisms, materials which are otherwise not available in English. On Dec 12, 2006, at 8:15 AM, wrote: > To expound on this issue a bit. It seems that another issue in the > schools > is that many classes do not even require books. Many will have > packets of > notes that the students are required to buy! These packets not only > many > times are riddled with errors, but are condensed simplified > presentations of > what can find in a good solid book. I have been surprised that > students that > are graduating do not even know what an internal medicine book is > (i.e. > Fischer wu, Maclean) or how to use it. I can understand 20 years > ago needing > packets of handouts, but why with so many good books why do > teachers try to > recreate the wheel? Comments? > > - > > _____ > > @ <%40> > [@ <%40> ] On Behalf Of Z'ev > Rosenberg > Monday, December 11, 2006 4:41 PM > @ <%40> > Re: Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy > > That is a good point. Are so few practitioners continuing their > studies that they don't buy books on clinical Chinese medicine? Very > poor prognosis for the field. > > > On Dec 11, 2006, at 3:25 PM, Sean Doherty wrote: > > > <The losses which we American publishers have sustained > > this year due to this piracy make the margins so small that it's no > > longer really worth the time and effort. > > > > Bob>> > > > > From this statement then I think it is interesting, if not sad, > > that the > > publishers are pretty much solely supported by the sale of books to > > new > > people coming into the profession. I once heard a statistic where > > it was > > said there are more lawyers in school then there are lawyers > > practicing. I > > know this isn't anywhere near the case for us, at least I think the > > number > > of practitioners far outnumbers students (someone correct me here). > > So, it > > is worrisome to me that publishers are making such a small amount > > from those > > of us already practicing, that one year's dispersal of this DVD > > amongst the > > current national student body is enough to almost sink the ship. > > > > Sean > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Jason et al., I completely agree that digital books are necessary for efficient data-mining. However, publishers have yet to figure out a secure model so that they get paid for their time and effort and not get ripped off. CD-ROMs can be copied extremely easily and cheaply. There's no real way to protect them. So I don't think you'll see many publishers go that route. Churchill Livingstone tried it with one of Giovanni's books and got massively ripped off. You'll notice that they have not tried that since. Blue Poppy Press makes all its books available in digital form through NetLibrary and e-books. Readers can do the digital searches they want and we (and the authors/translators) get paid for the information via royalties. So all our books are already in digital form. I guess we should make this better known. At the moment, I don't think we actively advertise this fact. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Jason, " I really have a hard time believing that this one CD-Rom has caused 1 million dollars of loss in one year. " That number is what Bob Felt came up with for the FBI after 1) looking at the decline in their own sales for 2006 and 2) contacting Eastland, Blue Poppy, and all the school bookstores. (Elsevier is going to pursue civil damages and won't participate in our joint COMP efforts.) Remember, many schools do have bookstores. Therefore, many of the books we are talking about are sold three times -- once to the distributor, secondly by the distributor to the retailer, and third by the retailer to the end-user. Therefore, there are losses to each of these three categories of sellers. I believe Bob got his number by adding all these various losses. Further, we are talking about some pricey hardbound books. If you really want to know the math behind this figure, you're gonna need to ask Bob. (I'm not much on math and quickly forgot his calculations once I heard the end figure.) Bottom line, people have lost their jobs because of this. Since those people were breadwinners, that means more then just they have suffered. It includes their partners and children. If publishers cut back on their publishing, then the damage ripples out even further to editors, proofreaders, designers, printers, etc. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 > I really have a hard time believing that this one CD-Rom has caused 1 > million dollars of loss in one year. Does it matter how much? This issue is about ethics and honesty in a community of professionals, educators, and students. It really is that simple. Respectfully, Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Michael, I respectively disagree. Diagnosing where the problem is coming from is essential. If there is, for example, only a total of 100 (or even 500 DVD's) out there, then this would not begin to account for the loss. Therefore one must figure out where this loss in coming from. A million dollars is quite a large sum. Maybe the loss has to due with other factors. Maybe teacher handouts and lack of required text is another source of loss. Maybe a surplus of used books is another. I am looking beyond ethics and beliefs here. Obviously one can say that stealing is unethical, but correct and thorough analysis of the problem is required for solutions to be accurate. I am just objectively looking at the numbers (the best I can). Furthermore, I remember that for quite some time publishers have been saying that there sales have been declining. I think the picture is bigger than just this one DVD. - _____ On Behalf Of mpplac Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:38 PM Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy > I really have a hard time believing that this one CD-Rom has caused 1 > million dollars of loss in one year. Does it matter how much? This issue is about ethics and honesty in a community of professionals, educators, and students. It really is that simple. Respectfully, Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Bob, Thanks for making the point about Blue Poppy's books in digital form- I completely forgot that. You may consider actively advertising that. Kip On Behalf Of Bob Flaws Tuesday, December 12, 2006 2:24 PM Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy Jason et al., I completely agree that digital books are necessary for efficient data-mining. However, publishers have yet to figure out a secure model so that they get paid for their time and effort and not get ripped off. CD-ROMs can be copied extremely easily and cheaply. There's no real way to protect them. So I don't think you'll see many publishers go that route. Churchill Livingstone tried it with one of Giovanni's books and got massively ripped off. You'll notice that they have not tried that since. Blue Poppy Press makes all its books available in digital form through NetLibrary and e-books. Readers can do the digital searches they want and we (and the authors/translators) get paid for the information via royalties. So all our books are already in digital form. I guess we should make this better known. At the moment, I don't think we actively advertise this fact. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Another--and larger issue for publishers in general--is that of copy places agreeing to duplicate whole textbooks. They may post the US Copyright Infringement Act, but I don't think it's enforced. If the major chains (Kinkos, Staples, etc.) could be pressured to refuse to provide this service, forcing customers to do the scanning themselves, I suspect that would be something of a deterrent.(But, of course, they're the ones who make money off of this, as long as they don't get caught!) Most people don't have the patience to sit there scanning hundreds or thousands of pages. This is just my opinion, as a practioner and recent grad with a background in publishing. --Sarah Sarah E. Rivkin, MS, LAc, Dipl. OM www.slopeacupuncture.com , " " wrote: > > Michael, > > > > I respectively disagree. Diagnosing where the problem is coming from is > essential. If there is, for example, only a total of 100 (or even 500 DVD's) > out there, then this would not begin to account for the loss. Therefore one > must figure out where this loss in coming from. A million dollars is quite a > large sum. Maybe the loss has to due with other factors. Maybe teacher > handouts and lack of required text is another source of loss. Maybe a > surplus of used books is another. I am looking beyond ethics and beliefs > here. Obviously one can say that stealing is unethical, but correct and > thorough analysis of the problem is required for solutions to be accurate. I > am just objectively looking at the numbers (the best I can). Furthermore, I > remember that for quite some time publishers have been saying that there > sales have been declining. I think the picture is bigger than just this one > DVD. > > > > > > - > > > > _____ > > > On Behalf Of mpplac > Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:38 PM > > Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy > > > > > I really have a hard time believing that this one CD-Rom has caused 1 > > million dollars of loss in one year. > > Does it matter how much? This issue is about ethics and honesty in a > community of professionals, educators, and students. It really is > that simple. > Respectfully, > Michael > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Jason, " Maybe a surplus of used books is another. " Agreed, book resellers such as Amazon et al. have definitely cut into sales. However, it appears that this CD-ROM was created at Touro College in NYC. Touro College does not have their own bookstore. Instead, they have a special on-line bookstore that goes directly to Redwing Books. It is interesting that not a single order has been placed with that on-line bookstore this year. In addition, last spring, Honora and I visited Touro on one of our promotional tours. At the end of our visit, we were very surprised at how few books we had sold compared to the usual sales we've experienced at similar events at other schools. It seems to me that the CD-ROM did impact both of these sales, i.e., Redwings on-line sales and BPP's on-site sales. Too much of a coincidence. BTW, Acupuncture Today will have a headline story about all this in their Jan. 9 issue. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 All, Here is the letter by Bob Felt outlining the scope of the problem. I was wrong. The current impact is somewhere around a half mil. The " potential " long-term impact could be one mil. In any case, here's the figures as Bob Felt sees them. I have edited the text to take out any suppositions about the original guilty party since this has yet to be proven. Overview of the Piracy Problem During the 2006 Fall textbook season, which begins in late August and extends through early October, we at Redwing Book Company noticed an unprecedented decline in sales to schools of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in the U.S. Because we must anticipate orders to appropriately estimate stocking requirements, we were aware that there were no field-wide enrollment declines, school closures, or other events that could explain these phenomena. In fact, given the marketing campaigns of publishers such as Blue Poppy Press and enrollment estimates, we should have been seeing sales increases. We then called most of our textbook customers and discovered what appeared to be a trend of downward sales. In some cases the declines were relatively low percentages (9 - 10 %) that where nonetheless surprising. In other cases, the declines were very large (See the table in " Tracing the Source " following). We then began to hear rumors that there was a pirate disk in circulation. We attempted to find some substance to these rumors but met with no success. The Scope of the Piracy We eventually received a copy of one of the disks in circulation from an anonymous source. It is a DVD containing 162 books, about equally divided between Chinese medical texts and Western medical texts. We do not believe these are the only content in circulation. We have heard of other " libraries " but have not been able to obtain copies. We assume that the different versions in circulation are the result of student-to-student selective copying. I can provide this disk to the F.B.I. Cyber Crime Unit. The Financial Impacts The first thing to keep in mind is that we are looking only at one semester of a multiple semester problem. Fall Semester sales begin in August, peak in September and decline through October. Redwing Book Company, as the central distributor to the schools of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, saw an immediate and unprecedented drop in sales beginning with August 2006: Month 2005 2006 Difference August 352,820.52 256,870.73 95,949.79 September 259,759.03 170,878.51 88,880.52 October 176,281.10 135,353.90 40,927.20 This total difference of $225,757.51 is unprecedented. Enrollments are stable or higher, textbook prices are either unchanged or higher, there are more schools, and sales levels have not been this low in over a decade. Since the pirate DVD contains textbooks for the second semester sales season, January to March, equivalent declines are likely. A reasonable estimate of sales declines to be recorded by Redwing Book Company caused by the pirate DVD for just the 2006 – 2007 academic year, is $350.000.00. This does not included the losses of individual schools and stores, or the losses of the several publishers whose work is not distributed via Redwing, Elsevier or Eastland, whose sales are discussed in this memorandum. Blue Poppy Publications, whose books also appear on the CD experienced only a small decline, which they find suspicious because it occurred during a period of very active marketing and advertising. They had independently wondered why proactive programs that had worked in the past were no longer working. Elsevier, the largest publisher in the world, has estimated losses at $200,000.00 in their Complementary Medicine division Eastland Press, a independent press, estimates their losses as percentages per book, without knowledge of their dollar-valued sales, we cannot estimate actual losses Projected over the academic year, the total damage caused by this pirate DVD can be conservatively estimated at $650,000.00 with similar effects into the future so long as the pirate DVD is " in the wild. " Were the full information available from all publishers it would not be surprising to see this piracy as effecting more than a million dollars in sales in each academic year. Tracing the Source The sales decline was difficult to explain as a fluctuation caused by any identifiable commercial activity. In fact, no such activity was underway. To examine the problem we called schools around the country and asked for their observations, sample reports are as follows: State School 2006 Decline Percent Decline CA Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Science 3,648.00 -74% WA Bastyr University Bookstore 3,971.00 -9% FL Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine 901.00 -15% FL East West College of Natural Medicine 8,444.00 -45% CA Emperor's College of T.O.M. 4,347.00 -33% OR NCNM Bookstore 4,692.00 -31% NY New York College of Health Prof Bookstore 19,968.00 -65% MN Northwestern Health Sciences University 20,505.00 -33% CA Santa Barbara College 11,757.00 -88% * CA South Baylo University Bookstore 474.00 -10% MD Meeting Point Bookstore 5,773.00 -23% CA Yo San University 9.773.00 -34% CA Pacific College (San Diego) 47,100.00 -60% NY Pacific College (New York) 31,649.00 -49% IL Pacific College (Chicago) 16,102.00 -35% *Santa Barbra College is closing; it is not clear whether the huge decline in book sales was a contributing factor or an outcome of a closure notice. One pattern is obvious, although unexpected in a year of increased enrollments, some decline might be explained as part of a normal variation. However, declines of 30 to 88 percent are absolutely unexpected and unprecedented. The pattern of loss distribution here did not reveal any pattern of geographic distribution but the greatest losses are in the largest student populations and schools teaching the most standard curriculum (for which the pirate DVD contains the most texts). Summary Although we only have one piece of physical evidence and we do not have the resources to fully investigate this piracy it is clear that a major piracy has occurred and that it has had a very damaging effect on our field. Robert L. Felt Redwing Book Company 202 Bendix Drive Taos NM 87571 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Jason, I heartily agree that diagnosis is in order but what steps would you suggest be taken now? I've expressed my opinion already to the president and dean of my university. There are no circumstances that make this type of activity acceptable. I see this is as an issue of a professional community regulating itself and protecting its own members. As far as losses are concerned I just took a look at one shelf of my library 27 volumes average price about $30,low ball and the TCM books are generally the cheapest. If I use my personal yardstick and Bob's estimate of 160 or so books is correct thats about $4800 times the 100 dvd's you mentioned and you wind up with close to a half a million in lost sales. There are many places that losses occur for the authors and publishers. Excessive fair use, I've seen plenty of excessive copying in my time. The funny part is for those instructors trying to be the good guy as Zev mentioned it really doesn't save the students any money because their institutions have to raise tuition to cover those staff and material expenses. Professional presenters often present their own materials and overlook other helpful resources. Used books are an issue but speaking for myself I'm usually looking for a new edition and I would expect that instructors would require the same. I'm sure many of us could come up with a plethora of reasons. So suggestions for long term solutions. Strict enforcement of fair use policy in institutions. Clear honor and ethics codes for students with teeth. Administrators who are willing to take the hit in tuition if those codes are violated. Independent review board for texts that meets semi annually to review submitted texts from publishers and selected texts be recommended to schools and NCCAOM. Possibly formed from members of professional instructors group. School libraries posting independent reviews of books online for the community. Academics posting reviews (think blog here) of texts for those of us who don't have access to all those new texts in the library right up the hall. I understand that some of the commercial publications do provide useful reviews but the volume provided doesn't keep up. Email announcements about new and existing book offerings by subscription from the publishers. Don't send me print adds send me an electronic synopsis. I'll read it. Professionals: Form study groups with other local practitioners. Choose a topic and text and have fun. Get to know your colleagues. What are they reading you should know about? I realize some of these suggestions require what some would call extra work and possibly institutional costs but it would probably wash with the lost bookstore revenue. So two cents worth of possible solution. Regards, Michael , " " wrote: > > Michael, > > > > I respectively disagree. Diagnosing where the problem is coming from is > essential. If there is, for example, only a total of 100 (or even 500 DVD's) > out there, then this would not begin to account for the loss. Therefore one > must figure out where this loss in coming from. A million dollars is quite a > large sum. Maybe the loss has to due with other factors. Maybe teacher > handouts and lack of required text is another source of loss. Maybe a > surplus of used books is another. I am looking beyond ethics and beliefs > here. Obviously one can say that stealing is unethical, but correct and > thorough analysis of the problem is required for solutions to be accurate. I > am just objectively looking at the numbers (the best I can). Furthermore, I > remember that for quite some time publishers have been saying that there > sales have been declining. I think the picture is bigger than just this one > DVD. > > > > > > - > > > > _____ > > > On Behalf Of mpplac > Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:38 PM > > Re: Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy > > > > > I really have a hard time believing that this one CD-Rom has caused 1 > > million dollars of loss in one year. > > Does it matter how much? This issue is about ethics and honesty in a > community of professionals, educators, and students. It really is > that simple. > Respectfully, > Michael > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 It is pretty mind-boggling that someone went to the trouble to pirate so many books. There are several issues here that everyone should keep in mind. 1. End-users of the material are complicit in the piracy, Just as individual users of file-sharing programs were subject to lawsuits by the the record companies, students and practitioners who are in possession of this disk may find themselves in some seriously hot water. While practitioners will be hard to identify, students will be easy to track. Schools know who bought books and who didn't. A company like Elsevier is not going to roll over on this matter. If I was a student who had foregone purchasing my texts and obtained this disk instead, I would be very concerned right now. 2. The larger issue is an overarching one. The era of print is almost over. A couple years ago, I began to try and impress on potential authors that the market for anything they wrote was quite small and it was unlikely that they would ever see a return on their efforts unless their books became required texts for schools. Even then, it is speaking fees and workshops where the real money lies for most writers. People need to come to terms with new models of distribution that generate revenues from web-based advertising rather than sales of hard copy materials. 3. It is entirely understandable that students would opt to pirate their texts rather than pay for them. The cost of acupuncture school is obscene relative to the lifetime earning potential of graduates. Any way to cut costs is going to be appealing. When I used to work at an acupuncture college, I was accused of having a vested interest that caused me to hold my tongue on certain matters. This was no doubt correct. If schools cease to exist, then those who make their livings on their existence go belly-up. I no longer make a dime from any activity directly related to acupuncture education (my website is a wash—the small ad revenue pays the cost of web-host services and my time). Take that for whatever it is worth. -------------- Original message ---------------------- " Bob Flaws " <pemachophel2001 > All, > > Here is the letter by Bob Felt outlining the scope of the problem. I > was wrong. The current impact is somewhere around a half mil. The > " potential " long-term impact could be one mil. In any case, here's the > figures as Bob Felt sees them. I have edited the text to take out any > suppositions about the original guilty party since this has yet to be > proven. > > Overview of the Piracy Problem > > During the 2006 Fall textbook season, which begins in late August and > extends through early October, we at Redwing Book Company noticed an > unprecedented decline in sales to schools of Acupuncture and Chinese > Medicine in the U.S. Because we must anticipate orders to > appropriately estimate stocking requirements, we were aware that there > were no field-wide enrollment declines, school closures, or other > events that could explain these phenomena. In fact, given the > marketing campaigns of publishers such as Blue Poppy Press and > enrollment estimates, we should have been seeing sales increases. > > We then called most of our textbook customers and discovered what > appeared to be a trend of downward sales. In some cases the declines > were relatively low percentages (9 - 10 %) that where nonetheless > surprising. In other cases, the declines were very large (See the > table in " Tracing the Source " following). We then began to hear > rumors that there was a pirate disk in circulation. We attempted to > find some substance to these rumors but met with no success. > > The Scope of the Piracy > > We eventually received a copy of one of the disks in circulation from > an anonymous source. It is a DVD containing 162 books, about equally > divided between Chinese medical texts and Western medical texts. We > do not believe these are the only content in circulation. We have > heard of other " libraries " but have not been able to obtain copies. > We assume that the different versions in circulation are the result of > student-to-student selective copying. > > I can provide this disk to the F.B.I. Cyber Crime Unit. > > The Financial Impacts > > The first thing to keep in mind is that we are looking only at one > semester of a multiple semester problem. Fall Semester sales begin > in August, peak in September and decline through October. Redwing > Book Company, as the central distributor to the schools of acupuncture > and Chinese medicine, saw an immediate and unprecedented drop in sales > beginning with August 2006: > > Month 2005 2006 Difference > August 352,820.52 256,870.73 95,949.79 > September 259,759.03 170,878.51 88,880.52 > October 176,281.10 135,353.90 40,927.20 > > This total difference of $225,757.51 is unprecedented. Enrollments > are stable or higher, textbook prices are either unchanged or higher, > there are more schools, and sales levels have not been this low in > over a decade. Since the pirate DVD contains textbooks for the > second semester sales season, January to March, equivalent declines > are likely. A reasonable estimate of sales declines to be recorded > by Redwing Book Company caused by the pirate DVD for just the 2006 � > 2007 academic year, is $350.000.00. This does not included the losses > of individual schools and stores, or the losses of the several > publishers whose work is not distributed via Redwing, Elsevier or > Eastland, whose sales are discussed in this memorandum. Blue Poppy > Publications, whose books also appear on the CD experienced only a > small decline, which they find suspicious because it occurred during a > period of very active marketing and advertising. They had > independently wondered why proactive programs that had worked in the > past were no longer working. > > Elsevier, the largest publisher in the world, has estimated losses at > $200,000.00 in their Complementary Medicine division Eastland Press, > a independent press, estimates their losses as percentages per book, > without knowledge of their dollar-valued sales, we cannot estimate > actual losses Projected over the academic year, the total damage > caused by this pirate DVD can be conservatively estimated at > $650,000.00 with similar effects into the future so long as the pirate > DVD is " in the wild. " Were the full information available from all > publishers it would not be surprising to see this piracy as effecting > more than a million dollars in sales in each academic year. > > Tracing the Source > > The sales decline was difficult to explain as a fluctuation caused by > any identifiable commercial activity. In fact, no such activity was > underway. To examine the problem we called schools around the country > and asked for their observations, sample reports are as follows: > > State School 2006 Decline Percent Decline > CA Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Science 3,648.00 -74% > WA Bastyr University Bookstore 3,971.00 -9% > FL Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine 901.00 -15% > FL East West College of Natural Medicine 8,444.00 -45% > CA Emperor's College of T.O.M. 4,347.00 -33% > OR NCNM Bookstore 4,692.00 -31% > NY New York College of Health Prof Bookstore 19,968.00 -65% > MN Northwestern Health Sciences University 20,505.00 -33% > CA Santa Barbara College 11,757.00 -88% * > CA South Baylo University Bookstore 474.00 -10% > MD Meeting Point Bookstore 5,773.00 -23% > CA Yo San University 9.773.00 -34% > CA Pacific College (San Diego) 47,100.00 -60% > NY Pacific College (New York) 31,649.00 -49% > IL Pacific College (Chicago) 16,102.00 -35% > > *Santa Barbra College is closing; it is not clear whether the huge > decline in book sales was a contributing factor or an outcome of a > closure notice. > > One pattern is obvious, although unexpected in a year of increased > enrollments, some decline might be explained as part of a normal > variation. However, declines of 30 to 88 percent are absolutely > unexpected and unprecedented. The pattern of loss distribution here > did not reveal any pattern of geographic distribution but the greatest > losses are in the largest student populations and schools teaching the > most standard curriculum (for which the pirate DVD contains the most > texts). > > Summary > > Although we only have one piece of physical evidence and we do not > have the resources to fully investigate this piracy it is clear that a > major piracy has occurred and that it has had a very damaging effect > on our field. > > Robert L. Felt > Redwing Book Company > 202 Bendix Drive > Taos NM 87571 > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 I'm not sure what make of this. To corolate the scope of piracy one would have to look at all sales sources. Does Blue Poppy, Paradigm, Eastland sell directly to the online outlets like Amazon where some of these sales might be going to? I do find it odd that at my two schools it would seem that a third of the students could be using bootlegs. Although I don't teach beginning classes I have only seen two bootleg books (before I understood the significance of them.) Has anyone seen them at PCOM which seems to have an even greater drop in sales of legitimate books? But then again since we rarely require students to bring the books to class they may be well hidden from our view in student's homes and laptops. doug > > The sales decline was difficult to explain as a fluctuation caused by > any identifiable commercial activity. In fact, no such activity was > underway. To examine the problem we called schools around the country > and asked for their observations, sample reports are as follows: > > State School 2006 Decline Percent Decline > CA Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Science 3,648.00 -74% > WA Bastyr University Bookstore 3,971.00 -9% > FL Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine 901.00 -15% > FL East West College of Natural Medicine 8,444.00 -45% > CA Emperor's College of T.O.M. 4,347.00 -33% > OR NCNM Bookstore 4,692.00 -31% > NY New York College of Health Prof Bookstore 19,968.00 -65% > MN Northwestern Health Sciences University 20,505.00 -33% > CA Santa Barbara College 11,757.00 -88% * > CA South Baylo University Bookstore 474.00 -10% > MD Meeting Point Bookstore 5,773.00 -23% > CA Yo San University 9.773.00 -34% > CA Pacific College (San Diego) 47,100.00 -60% > NY Pacific College (New York) 31,649.00 -49% > IL Pacific College (Chicago) 16,102.00 -35% > > *Santa Barbra College is closing; it is not clear whether the huge > decline in book sales was a contributing factor or an outcome of a > closure notice. > > > > Robert L. Felt > Redwing Book Company > 202 Bendix Drive > Taos NM 87571 > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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