Copyright Laws must be enforced ASAP

Jul 20, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor;
For some time now I have been visiting lots of book stores also in the markets buying books and published material for my children and myself. I note with a great deal of interest that most books today selling in our markets and book stores are photo copy books; that’s a violation of copyright laws both nationally and internationally.
I observed that books such as: Junior English, First Aid in English, CXC text books in every subject area, books by Caribbean writers like V. S. Naipaul, Derek Walcott, Ian McDonald, Martin Carter, Wilson Harris and the long list goes on and on when it comes to ‘book piracy’ and our past and present government does nothing about it.I am scared to bring my books that’s published abroad and launched it here because my first book published here was pirated by many schools and store owners and it’s hard to track down everyone and if you take them to court you can lose your case because the copyright laws are not enforced here. Our writers here suffered a lot like myself because we only have four newspapers here that make it hard to employ our writers to get jobs. Even many agencies hardly have job positions for writers and editors. I say this from my personal experience and most papers pay columnists very cheap or don’t want to pay them because many politicians write columns here for free that makes it very difficult for our Guyanese writers like myself.
We have copyright laws in Guyana but they are not enforced. If they were enforced, then the owners of these stores selling photocopy books would have been picked up by the police, they would have been sent to prison or pay some heavy court fines like in Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados and many big nations. I also see now the piracy of CDs and DVDs has now become a normal business in this country from the very big store owners to sellers in the streets.
Many young children are dropping out of schools just to earn a living by selling pirated DVDs and CDs. It’s very sad to know that writers’ text book or any other book of poetry, fiction etc to r book selling as a pirated photocopy book in the streets and in the stores and he cannot do anything about it. It’s sad to know because the writer will take years to write a book and will invest a huge sum of money to get his/her book publish, then some high class white collar thief will buy just one copy of the author’s original book and photocopy thousands of the author’s books selling it at half its value.
It’s very sad to know that many of our Guyanese singers will take years to compose their songs on a CD travel out of Guyana to get their songs recorded then suddenly their CD is being sold in the streets and CD shops for $200 and seven for $1000. What is really happening to the laws of our country? On every corner we can see laws are broken every day by corrupt people in our society. What is copyright? Does it apply to our country?
Copyright is a type of protection provided by law to authors of original works of authorship, inclusive of literary, drama, musical, artistic and some other intellectual works.’’
Guyana is a signatory to the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention. In addition, other copyright legal provisions are enacted in the Copyright Act 1956 of the United Kingdom to which Guyana acceded in 1966.
The problem, however, is that these copyright provisions are not enforced in Guyana. Guyana is among 121 countries that were party to the Berne Convention on March 2, 1997. Since Guyana is a signatory of the Berne Convention, why is it not being enforced?
Why is Guyana a signatory of a convention she has no intention to implement? It’s about time our lawmakers try to have an understanding of copyright laws to protect our authors, singer, etc.
This law must be passed in parliament and all pirated photocopy books, exam papers, DVDs, CDs must be removed from the shelves in every store and market stall in Guyana. At CARIFESTA lots of books were launched, but it’s sad to see these books being photocopied and sold at book stores and markets for half price. Guyana is not a good place for writers to launch their books. It looks bad when a Caribbean writer visit our country to see his/her book being sold as a photocopy book. Since we are a member of CARICOM then we must follow and adhere to the principles of other CARICOM States.
What we need in Guyana is a publishing house or a good printing press at the Ministry of Education to re-publish books written by Caribbean author’s that will be easily available to students at a reduced price. In an interview some time ago with Hansib Publisher, Arif Ali and Petamber Persaud about copyright, Mr Ali, Publisher of Hansib said that he can publish text books cheaper for Guyana if our Government can work with him. Even singer Dave Martins said that copyright laws must be enforced in Guyana, because it will put more revenue into the Government’s treasury.
What we need in Guyana is a writers/authors union where writers are represented, meaning they can take a store owner to court for selling their books and that store owner will have to compensate the writer financially if found guilty. The same should apply for artistes.
This looks like a long hard road for us to travel, but it can be done if we work together to enforce the copyright laws in our country.
Rev. Gideon Cecil

1 thoughts on “Copyright Laws must be enforced ASAP”

19CAGriffith48 July 20, 2016 at 10:34 pm

I observed that books such as: Junior English, First Aid in English, CXC text books in every subject area, books by Caribbean writers like V. S. Naipaul, Derek Walcott, Ian McDonald, Martin Carter, Wilson Harris and the long list goes on and on when it comes to ‘book piracy’ and our past and present government does nothing about it.

Dear Rev. Cecil: Submitted for your reading pleasure is an October 2, 2012 article on the prior Government position on copyright –

Guyana Resorts To Buying Pirated Textbooks Because Legal Copies Are Too Expensive
The fact that textbooks are too expensive is something that has been documented pretty well here. For example we have the stories of students paying over $180 for an art history book that contains no images, and a student being sued for copyright infringement for selling legally purchased imported textbooks for cheaper than the publishers want. The high cost of textbooks is such a problem that even some governments are taking steps to mitigate that cost.

vmanda sends news that the government of Guyana has begun buying pirated copies of textbooks for its public schools because the publishers charge way too much.
The government of Guyana is making no apologies about the fact that it is buying pirated textbooks for public schools as a cost-saving measure.

Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon says officials are buying pirated books from printing firms and companies that photocopy books because of their high quality and lower prices. Luncheon said the government’s move is justified.
Of course the publishers of those books are not too happy. In a statement from Emma House of the Publishers Association, she states that the government is breaking many laws.
The Cabinet’s decision in Guyana to procure pirated textbooks for public schools is an indisputably illegal act. This decision is in contravention of Guyanese law, Caribbean law (CARICOM’s revised Treaty of Chaguaramas) and the international Berne Convention.
Of course, what the PA seems to be overlooking is just why Guyana has chosen to ignore international copyright. It feels that the books are just way too expensive. By insisting on high prices, the publishers who make up that organization have put themselves out of reach of this country. Further, the fact that the government is willing to pay for books from pirate book printers is proof that the publishers could do much more to get Guyana to buy legally. Instead, the publishers have chosen to bully the country into paying out more for books than it can.

This is once again the result of copyright holders refusing to adapt to the marketplace, even a marketplace they have built their business around. These publishers have gotten so used to price gouging their customers that they do not know how to properly respond to someone choosing a cheaper alternative. Because the publishers have blinded themselves from reality, they are failing here. If they were actually willing to learn, they would take a step back and work with the government of Guyana to come up with a pricing plan that would actually work. Of course, that might be too much to ask from some companies.

Update: vmanda has provided an update stating that, at the behest of the Publishers Association, a Guyanese court has granted an injunction against local companies that illegally copy textbooks. This means the the government will no longer be able to buy pirated textbooks for the time being. There is no word yet on the government’s response to the injunction.