Publishers Association Chief Calls Opponents of Copyright Laws Thieves

Posted on May 24, 2012

The Bookseller reports on an impassioned speech by Richard Mollet, the chief executive of The Publishers Association in Great Britain. Mollet was speaking at the Westminster Media Forum today and he blasted opponents of copyrights.

Mollet demanded that publishers support laws "to ensure the sustained right of authors and writers to earn a living from their work and not be told by those who wish to take it without paying that it is their fundamental right to do so". He is especially infuriated by groups such as the British Library and the Open Rights Groups who support projects such as the Google bookscanning project and looser copyright protections for authors.

He aimed ire at those who oppose copyright using the language of civil rights who have "the temerity to appropriate the language of freedom of expression as a cloak for their tawdry theft". He says opposing copyright is supporting theft, plain and simple.

This really is becoming one of the defining issues of our age. From the Google bookscanning project and the myriad lawsuits surrounding it, to the demands of libraries for looser copyright protections to allow freer sharing of information , the issue continues to infuriate those on both sides of the issue.