Actually, copyright law as we know it today exists because of the printed press. It came into existence to protect the right of publishers and to an extent a form a censorship.

For Malaysians, at this point of time, i don't think copyright laws should apply to foreign works/books. If that is what it takes to get more Malaysians reading, then i'm not so worried that JK Rowling is getting a few thousand dollars less. Heck the money is going overseas anyway. May i add that i do buy all my books, and that this is my personal opinion.

For academic purposes, i have photocopied whole text books in the past but this was in Malaysian Colleges. I know for certain that photocopiers in libraries in the UK actually do pay some sort of license which is included in the cost of photocopying.