IN modern society’s obsession with technology and celebrity, it is not unusual to see flash photography at a bookshop. A new nickname “bookstore paparazzi” has appeared. Like regular paparazzi, the bookstore paparazzi is a secret photographer, the only difference lies in the subject: The stars pursued by the bookstore paparazzi are not celebrities but books.
Readers: 3 precious resources: time, effort and money
The frequent sound of the camera shutter shows that people in bookshops prefer to take photos of books over buying books.
“I just want to copy the few pages I need, spending more than 20 yuan to buy a book is too expensive for me,” according to a bookstore paparazzi who is having a renovation at home and looking for some sample interior design photos.
Bearing in mind the cost of the book, she thinks it’s not necessary to buy the whole thing.
Bookshops: Sales have been affected
Clearly taking photos from the books is convenient for readers, but publishers are powerless to stop this. “Although this will affect our business, it’s better than damaging the books. We normally will ask people to stop taking photos but there’s nothing more we can do about it. We can’t ask people to leave,” a member of staff from one bookshop said. Some bookshops now cover their products in plastic, allegedly one of the purposes to prevent photos from being taken.
Lawyer: Bookstores have the right to stop the photos from being taken
Wu Hua, a lawyer from Zhurongwanquan Law Firm, has his own opinion on the bookstore paparazzi: “This kind of case is quite a recent phenomenon. Books are the property of the bookstore. The bookstore has the ownership (property right). Property rights are about protecting one’s own property from other’s harm. In this case, customers through photographing rather than buying the books, obtain the benefits of seeing the information therein. This undermines the interests of the bookstore. Therefore, the bookstore has the right to cover books in plastic.”(Zhu Linglin )
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