Hanoi (VNA) – As the publishing industry continues to grapple with counterfeit and pirated books, a new challenge has emerged: artificial intelligence (AI). AI is raising unprecedented questions for hundreds of thousands of works, including whether authors and copyright holders will be fairly compensated and have their rights protected.
A book can take months or even years to write, edit and publish, yet just a few clicks can be enough for it to be copied, distributed and sold illegally online. From illegal printing operations and counterfeit book stalls to online shops, pirated books are reaching readers faster and becoming increasingly difficult to control.
Pirated books in digital space
At a conference to roll out the 2026 tasks for publishing, printing and distribution, Nguyen Nguyen, Director of the then Publishing, Printing and Distribution Authority (now the Publishing and Library Authority), stressed the need to ensure a disciplined publishing market amid increasingly complicated developments involving counterfeit books, pirated publications and copyright infringements in the digital environment.
In Vietnam, counterfeit and pirated books and other fake goods are being sold on e-commerce platforms, while the illegal distribution of ebooks remains a concern. Meanwhile, around the world, the rapid development of AI is opening up a new copyright battleground. Millions of books can be used as input data for AI systems.
According to a representative of the Vietnam Publishers Association, despite years of efforts by competent authorities, illegal printing and the distribution of counterfeit books have become increasingly serious. The production and trading of counterfeit books should be considered for treatment in the same way as the production and trading of counterfeit goods in order to increase deterrence.
Copyright infringement is becoming increasingly organised and sophisticated. Counterfeit books are no longer simply low-quality copies that can easily be identified by the naked eye. Many are produced to closely resemble genuine publications, from their covers and colours to publisher information, before being offered through online sales channels at attractive prices to exploit consumers’ preference for cheaper products.
Behind the figures on counterfeit and pirated books are losses that are difficult to quantify across the entire creative ecosystem. At the same time, as AI becomes increasingly involved in exploiting, processing and generating content, copyright issues are becoming even more complex.
Copyright enters new battle
Recent developments show that copyright infringement in publishing is no longer limited to isolated cases that are difficult to control. Behind every copied book is a distorted market, while behind every pirated data repository are millions of works and vast amounts of creative effort that risk being exploited without fair compensation. Over the years, many cases have been detected and handled by competent authorities, but these represent only the tip of the iceberg.
Recently, authorities in Bac Ninh seized thousands of counterfeit books of various types, preventing a source of pirated books from entering the market ahead of the 2026-2027 school year.
In early September 2026, units under the Quang Tri provincial Public Security Department discovered three Facebook accounts posting information about copying educational materials and textbooks for grades 1 to 12 for supply to and sale to parents and students.
According to a leader of the Vietnam Publishers Association, counterfeit and pirated books and other copyright-infringing publications are currently a highly complicated issue. Publishers and book producers need to propose criminalising the production and consumption of counterfeit books, as is the case with counterfeit goods, to strengthen deterrence.
Publishing copyright is entering an entirely new phase. As AI becomes increasingly capable of generating text, summarising books, mimicking writing styles and producing content at enormous speed, ensuring copyright protection is becoming more difficult.
On May 5, 2026, the Prime Minister issued Government Dispatch No. 38/CĐ-TTg, asking ministries, sectors and localities to focus on implementing measures to combat, prevent and handle infringements of intellectual property rights. Following the Prime Minister’s direction, several units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have held conferences involving numerous publishers and businesses distributing electronic publications to seek solutions to protecting copyright in the digital environment./.
