N

oted writer Andrea Hirata says he has personal experience of copyright piracy. He admitted that he had mixed feelings when he found out that he had just autographed a pirated copy of his best-selling novel, Laskar Pelangi (The Rainbow Troops).

“It was during a book signing and dozens of people were there when I found out about the pirated copy,” he told tribunnews.com.

He said it was estimated that the sales of pirated copies of his book were four times those of the official version. The pirated copy usually sells for half price.

He acknowledged however that to some extent the circulation of the pirated copies had allowed more people to read his novel and this brought him some consolation.