Re: [ipr-ict] Re: learning materials (Achal's reply)

["klohento@panos-ao.org" <klohento@panos-ao.org>]

See inside the text.

-------- Message original --------
Sujet: 	overdue reply
Date: 	Sat, 13 Aug 2005 10:21:44 +0200
De: 	Your Name <achal@access.org.za>
Pour: 	jollirm@unisa.ac.za
Copie: 	philipp@bridges.org, klohento@panos-ao.org


Hi there - sorry for this - if this is appropriate now, could you post
this to the list? I was traveling until today, hence unable to access
email.
-------

Bob Joliffe a écrit :

> [French below]
> First a long overdue thanks to Achal for his great discussion document 
> on copyright and learning materials.
> I have three questions (or observations) which maybe others on the 
> list can help me out on:
> 1.  I agree with Seydina's comments below.  We need to start creating 
> more of our own learning materials.  There are some things which need 
> to be set in place to make the environment right.  Local publishing 
> industries need to be built up [see 3 below] and to a certain extent 
> regulated.  I know authors in SA, for example, who get their books 
> published internationally rather than locally, because the local 
> publishers are too expensive.


While this is largely true, to have a local edition published also 
means (often) that the price is reduced. Take Mandela's book - it has 
no local publisher. If it was published by - say - the UKZN press - it 
is likely to be much cheaper than it would be when imported as is the 
case currently.

> 2.  How many African governments are still charging VAT on book 
> imports?  I believe SA does.  I know Zimbabwe did and despite vigorous 
> campaigning in the 1990's probably still does.  If African governments 
> want to promote a reading culture then this is surely a way for them 
> to play some small part (14% ?) in cutting the costs of books.  
> Governments sometimes argue that such measures are ineffective because 
> the retailers absorb the savings into their profits.  Surely there is 
> some justification for market interfering price controls in this case?


The issue with VAT is interesting. In the case of books bought by 
government (i.e. the Dept of Education in SA), they pay VAT, which 
then goes back to Treasury, but is not directly applied to the 
textbooks fund at the Dept. So in a sense, they are paying 14% more 
than necessary. In the case of other learning materials, Treasury 
research indicates that the chunk of buyers are froim the upper income 
quintile - which is perfectly reasonable, since only the rich are 
really consuming books in SA - so, the point is (from extensive talks 
we held wih them) that any appeal for VAT removal must focus on how 
the justified income the state is collecting from these people can be 
converted into greater book buying by poor people. 

The part about retailers not passing on the VAT savings is (as Bob 
suggest) unjustifiable since its an information problem that can be 
surely be bridged with some simple consumer advocacy.



> 3.  How is it that India is able to produce legal cheap copies of 
> thousands of valuable textbooks?  I have never understood what the 
> deal is that Indian publishers have cut with the Western publishing 
> houses, but whatever it is, why can't we get the same deal here?  
> Besides making books available this might also provide the impetus to 
> get local publishing industries up and running.

India can publish books cheaply because it presents a 40 million + 
english speaking market for the publishing industry. The deal is that 
ublishers anywhere have two broad business models to work on: high 
prices/ low volume or low prices/ high volume. The dynamics of 
profitability vary, but in general, the more profitable option is the 
latter. India justifies the latter. To a degree, my opinion is that 
the publishing industry's reluctance to cater to a larger pool of 
South Africans is in fact a symptom of the relative lack of transformation in the industry at large. 

Cheers,
Achal.



> [Auto magically translated into French]
> D'abord longue grâce en retard à Achal de son grand document de 
> discussion sur des matériaux de copyright et d'étude.  J'ai trois 
> questions (ou observations) sur lesquelles peut-être d'autres sur la 
> liste peuvent m'aider dehors:
> 1.  Je suis d'accord avec les commentaires de Seydina ci-dessous.  
> Nous devons commencer à créer plus de nos propres matériaux d'étude.  
> Il y a quelques choses qui doivent être placées en place pour faire la 
> droite d'environnement.  Des industries d'édition locales doivent être 
> accumulées [ voir 3 ci-dessous ] et ont dans une certaine mesure 
> réglé.  Je connais les auteurs à SA, par exemple, qui obtiennent leurs 
> livres édités internationalement plutôt que localement, parce que les 
> éditeurs locaux sont trop chers.
> 2.  Combien de gouvernements africains chargent toujours la TVA sur 
> des importations de livre?  Je crois que SA fait.  Je sais que le 
> Zimbabwe a fait et en dépit de la campagne vigoureuse dans les années 
> 90  probablement toujours.  Si les gouvernements africains veulent 
> favoriser une culture de lecture puis c'est sûrement une manière pour 
> qu'ils jouent un certain petit pièce (14%?)  en coupant les coûts de 
> livres.  Les gouvernements arguent du fait parfois que de telles 
> mesures sont inefficaces parce que les détaillants absorbent l'épargne 
> dans leurs bénéfices.  Est-ce que sûrement là une certaine 
> justification pour le marché s'y mêle des contrôles des prix dans ce 
> cas-ci?
> 3.  Comment est-ce la cette Inde peut-il produire les copies bon 
> marché légales des milliers de manuels valables?  Je n'ai jamais 
> compris ce que l'affaire est que les éditeurs indiens ont coupé avec 
> les maisons d'édition occidentales, mais celui qu'il est, pourquoi ne 
> peut pas nous obtenir la même affaire ici?  Sans compter que rendre 
> des livres disponible ceci pourrait également fournir l'impulsion pour 
> obtenir des industries d'édition locales en service.
> Respect Bob