Fake, Pirated And Counterfeit Books A Big Problem On Amazon

Counterfeit books are still a big issue on Amazon

I can only write about the ongoing problem with books.

But Amazon has taken so little action, there could also be a problem with other counterfeit goods.

You could think that identifying counterfeit books would be easy. If you publish a book on Amazon, surely Amazon could at least check for plagiarism when pirates copy your text.

The problem is not new. I have been writing about pirated ebooks and books for a very long time.

Third party sellers are making a lot of money from pirated, fake and counterfeit books.

More importantly, so is Amazon.

Is this why Amazon seems to be acting like an ostrich? And burying its head in the sand when it comes to taking real action.

How bad is the problem?

It’s terrible, to be honest.

You only need to do a quick Google Search for counterfeit books to find out how serious this issue is.

It affects fiction, non-fiction and education publishers. Counterfeit textbooks, in particular, are rife.

It is well worth reading this article in the New York Times to understand the scope of counterfeiting.

It concerns a medical publisher who did some test buys of their book. This short extract from the article is mindboggling.

Antimicrobial Therapy, which publishes “The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy,” bought 34 of its handbooks from Amazon and Amazon’s third-party sellers. At least 30 were counterfeits.

Do you need to read those numbers again? Thirty-four book purchases and thirty fakes.

It is not a new problem. The Atlantic wrote about the problem of plagiarism in self-publishing and Amazon some years ago. The issue then was copying and republishing romance novels.

In another article in Ars Technica, Bill Pollock goes further. He calls out Amazon for selling what he says are counterfeit copies of his company’s book, The Art of Assembly Language—copies that Amazon apparently printed.

He includes an image of the ISBN Amazon included for the forgery.

How can Amazon be serious about anti-counterfeit measures, when it is the printer and publisher of a fake book by an Amazon seller?

Yes, Amazon seemed to commit itself to do something about the problem with its Project Zero.

But the program puts the responsibility on the publisher. It is up to them to report intellectual property issues. It is not up to Amazon to find problems.

And worse, it is an invitation-only program. So bad luck if you are not a big enough publisher to be chosen by Amazon.

There have been occasional wins against publishers. But not very many.

Publishers Wiley, Cengage, Pearson and McGraw-Hill Education won a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Book Dog Books, a seller of fake textbooks.

What can you do?

Sadly, there’s nothing you can do.

It applies if you are self-publishing on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kobo or any other platform.

Over the years, I have tried to notify and communicate with Google and Amazon about issues with my book rights.

In one instance, one of my print books was indexed, listed and available in pdf download by pirates on Google. It happened within just a few weeks of publishing.

Another problem arose when Google Play allowed a counterfeit paperback version of one of my books to be available for sale.

In both of these cases, Google was extremely non-committal, flippant and bordering on rude in the responses I received.

My last adventure was with Amazon. A mass market seller was trying to sell my book for $2,796.00. Yes, you read that right. nearly $3,000.00.

When I raised the issue with Amazon, I received a limp copy and pasted reply. So, I gave up, and instead had a laugh.

You often read that the big Internet companies are operating with a Wild West attitude. It is probably a fair description of the situation.

There are copyright laws all around the world to protect authors.

But none of these laws seems to apply to tech giants. And if they do, you get the feeling that they can ignore them with impunity.

Amazon is clear in its advice to publishers. It is not up to Amazon to decide what is right or wrong. It places the total responsibility on the publisher in its Content Guidelines.

Illegal or infringing content

We take violations of laws and proprietary rights very seriously. It is your responsibility to ensure that your content doesn’t violate laws or copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other rights. Just because content is freely available does not mean you are free to copy and sell it.

You would need a massive amount of money to think about taking legal action against Amazon. You know your rights have been infringed, but it would be a long, expensive and futile exercise.

Conclusion

It’s unfair. It’s wrong. But it’s a fact of life if you are self-publishing on Amazon.

You are a small fish in a massive pond.

Amazon is the biggest seller in the world for ebooks and books. By a huge distance. So if you want to self-publish and stand any hope of selling your books, you have to publish on Amazon.

But when you do, your book in ebook or print on demand paperback are both electronic computer files. So they can be copied in a few seconds by unscrupulous book pirates and scammers. Nothing at all is secure on the Internet.

All you can do is hope that book buyers are a little savvy. In most cases, they will buy your original and won’t fall for the fakes.

It won’t be a big issue for you in this case.

But if your book becomes very popular? Yes, you should check to see is your book has been counterfeited and offered for sale without your approval.

If it happens, you should contact Amazon, of course.

But don’t hold your breath for any immediate action.

The problem is not going to go away anytime soon. Amazon has made noises and a few efforts over the years to minimise the issue. But it is a system of selling books that is still so wide open to abuse.

Honest authors would never give a thought to manipulating algorithms, keyword stacking or money laundering.

But there are obviously many fraudsters who certainly do.