Chinese Medical Textbook Piracy

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

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

>

[Guest guest]

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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

>

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

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

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

<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

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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

>

>

[Guest guest]

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.

[Guest guest]

{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.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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

>

>

[Guest guest]

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

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

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

>

>

[Guest guest]

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

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

> 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

[Guest guest]

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

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

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

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

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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

>