THE Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY) and the Book Industry Association of Jamaica (BIAJ) have warned teachers against photocopying textbooks, noting that it is illegal if undertaken without permission or license from copyright holders.

The warning has come in the wake of reports that chief education officer at the Ministry of Education and Youth, Adelle Brown, had encouraged teachers to photocopy chapters from books not provided by the ministry, for distribution to their students.

In a written statement to the media, JAMCOPY and BIA urged teachers and the public as a whole “to respect the law and refrain from the widespread illegal practice of photocopying without permission or license”.

Carol Newman, the general manager at JAMCOPY noted that teachers risked legal action should they photocopy without permission from the copyright holder of texts.

“The action to be taken (in the event of a breach of the Copyright Act) would rest with the copyright holders. They have the right to report it to the police if they have evidence that their books are being photocopied. They also have the right to lay a suit against the ministry and the teachers involved,” Newman told the Observer last week.

Chairman of the BIAJ, Paul Bryan, for his part, noted his surprise at Brown’s advice to teachers.

“It’s not something that we thought we would be hearing from the ministry. We don’t want to make a big thing out of this. We just want to bring it to the attention of the ministry. We are in a tenuous position because we are in the book business,” he said. “People might look at our stance as protecting our own interest and being selfish. It’s not a matter of being selfish. The fact of the matter is that it is an illegal activity.”

He added that any action on their part would depend on the ministry’s response to their caution against photocopying without permission.

“We’ll see how the ministry responds, and then we’ll take it from there,” he said.

Brown could not be reached for comment on the issue.

JAMCOPY and BIAJ, meanwhile, are in negotiations with the education ministry, to provide a license allowing public schools and colleges to make and distribute multiple photocopies of limited portions of copyrighted work, a release to the media from the two entities said. The release, however, made it clear that any such license was not intended to make photocopying a replacement for purchasing books.