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Injunction granted prohibiting ‘pirated’ school books
By Zena Henry
An injunction filed by the British Publishers’ Association was yesterday granted by Justice Rishi Persaud at the Supreme Court, prohibiting the publication of ‘pirated’ school books in Guyana. The orders are expected to be passed today against several business entities that are known dealers in the sale of such items.
Representative for the British Publishers’ Association, Attorney-at-law Andrew Pollard
Attorney-at-law Andrew Pollard is representing the Publishers’ Association, whom he said moved to the High Court as a means of protecting and safeguarding their intellectual property rights.
The British Publishers’ Association is an umbrella body of United Kingdom publishers whose members include large publishing houses such as Nelson Thornes Ltd., Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Macmillan Ltd. and Pearson Education Ltd.
They are the holders of copyright in an extensive number of works which are being pirated and sold openly in Georgetown and other urban centres in the country, Pollard explained.
He said that the publishers had no alternative but to seek recourse for their rights through law. They have thus filed the injunction restraining the defendants from reproducing, selling and exposing for sale or dealing with infringed copies.
Some of those local publishers expected to receive the court order were named, and these entities Pollard stressed, “Have been selling pirated textbooks in breach of the Publishers’ copyright”. They are expected to respond to the orders tomorrow.
Pollard said that although the publishers of the textbooks had known for some time of the illegal practice in Guyana, they have now decided to take action since they have received no favourable response after numerous complaints about the practice.
“The publishers had known about the pirated books for some time, but as stated in court papers, they had made extensive complaints to former Education Minister Shaik Baksh, who promised to take action several times and had promised that action by the Guyana Government would be imminent.”
This, Pollard said, was not forthcoming, and the publishers realized that urgent action for their rights was required.
The Attorney concluded that the foreign publishers are willing to enter negotiations, and have always been willing to do so, as long as there are reasonable approaches by the Government, in terms of their position that the text books are essential.
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