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Police in Montreal, Canada, have seized 2,700 photocopied textbooks and digests of textbooks that were being sold illegally to university students, arresting 13 suspects in raids on four photocopying stores.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the total value of the haul was Can $540,000 (£342,000). Charges may be laid regarding breaches of the Canadian Copyright Act after the investigation wraps up and the offences are considered by the crown prosecutor in Montreal.
Corporal Luc Thibault told The Bookseller: "They were selling them for an average of the quarter of the price of the real book. This was a good deal for students who don't have a lot of money." He said an investigation was launched last autumn following complaints from photocopy shops that are officially licenced by Montreal's four main universities, the McGill University, Concordia University, the University of Montreal and the University of Quebec at Montreal.
The books, he said, were professionally produced and assembled with plastic binders and covers. They covered a wide variety of subjects, from accountancy to communications and literature and in a number of languages, including Greek, Chinese and English.
Corp Thibault said the books were produced to order from students who heard about the illicit service by word of mouth, although the print shops often made excess copies of popular sellers that were on course booklists. A police communiqué added: "The reproduction of books constitutes a violation to the Copyright Act. The illegal photocopy industry affects prejudicially legitimate businesses and deprives copyright owners of their royalties."