LAHORE: Police seized a large number of pirated textbooks and stickers in successful raids on a printing press – owned by the Islamabad assistant commissioner – and a die-cutting house in the Abbot Road and Muslim Mohallah areas.
As part of efforts to counter book piracy, local police authorities along with the Roving Source – a security concern engaged in providing trademark and copyright protection services in Pakistan – conducted the raids.The first raid was conducted at the MK Printing Press, owned by Islamabad Assistant Commissioner Sheikh Adnan Javed. Around 50 sheets of 6,000 fake Oxford University Press security labels used on textbooks were confiscated from the premises. Shahzad Khalid and Faisal Aslam, the two workers present at the press at the time of the raid, were taken into custody by Qila Gujjar Singh police.
Javed tried to use his influence to pressure police to release his workers and not register an FIR, but police put the culprits behind bars. The second raid, conducted at a die-cutting facility operating from an obscure residential house, resulted in the seizure of around 5,000 pirated copies of New Oxford Primary Science Book 1 and 2.
The proprietor of the set-up, Raza Ali, was apprehended by the Lower Mall police for further investigation and an FIR was lodged against him. Police impounded the pirated material and instituted charges against the perpetrators for committing violations of the copyright laws.Such infringements of intellectual property rights cause heavy losses to the publishing industry, authors, the government, and parents and pupils who are cheated into buying sub-standard, pirated books. – Dailytimes
