Wholesale Theft

of PI Year Book in United States Genuine Publishers Have No Remedy

AS an example of the thieving tactics which Australian publishers may ex pect from certain interests in the United States, we publish the following: The owners of this journal (Pacific Publications Pty., Ltd.) published “The Pacific Islands Year Book” in 1942, and it was widely distributed. There was another edition in 1944, and the 1944 edition was sold for reproduction in the United States.

Before the book could be reprinted, however, the USA publishers reported that the Year Book already was in circu lation. After much confusion and inquiry, it has been found that a concern in USA has “pirated” the book. It procured a copy of the 1942 edition, reprinted it exactly as in the genuine edition, except that it was called 1944 edition, and sold it far and wide in the United States, as the genuine 1944 edition.

Ordinary British people might imagine that such bare-faced theft could not go unchecked or unpunished. But appeals to American authority brought merely a shrug of the shoulders—Australian copy rights have no force in the United States —any Australian book may thus be “pirated,” and the Australian author and publisher will have no remedy.

Contributions from Fiji to the Duke of Gloucester’s Red Cross and St. John Fund now total £34,200.