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Subject: Copyright theft? ( 1 of 6 )
Posted by Toby

Dear Mr. Adams

I'm head of science at my school, and as a fan of your work I'm prompted to write by a recent incident that happened here.

Like most schools, it's fairly common practice to photocopy textbooks, as there simply isn't enough money to buy one for each student, (especially not after buying new photocopiers for each department).

Yesterday, at breaktime, the deputy head came to use our photocopier to photocopy the library's copy of "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe".

The whole book. So he could take it on holiday. When I asked him why he simply didn't take the book, he pointed out that it was a hardback, and he didn't want to be lugging a big heavy book on the plane.

When I suggested he could perhaps buy a paperback, he said this way was easier, so I pointed out that perhaps this wasn't a particularly good example to be setting to the students, to which he replied that it wasn't really stealing as he wasn't going to buy it anyway so it's not as if anyone was losing any money, and besides, it must have sold millions so they're going to miss a few pounds.

As it's not often that you get the chance to actually ask copyright holders how they feel about this attitude, I thought I would.

Thanks for your time,

Toby.
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