As the outcry continues against the Guyana government’s decision to purchase pirated textbooks, Intellectual Property Lawyer Teni Housty, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) on Thursday recommended that government makes special arrangements with publishers.

He recommended that the Guyana government obtain a compulsory licence from the publishers at an agreed royalty to have the books printed and sold locally.

While there are no provisions for such a facility in Guyana’s archaic pre-independence 1956 Copyright Act, Housty said such a deal could be struck through an agreement or contract with the publishers or a ministerial order.

“The practice is one where the rights holder is not making the works available at an affordable price, the State can step in- well in this case it would be through agreement- and have the works made available exclusively in the country at a reduced price with a guaranteed royalty payment,” Housty told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com).

He warned that Guyana could face sanctions under the Caribbean-European Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and the Caribbean Community’s Treaty of Chaguaramas if publishers from Europe or the Caribbean take action to protect their works.

Rather than encouraging or facilitating the theft of intellectual property, the lawyer said Guyana could lead by example by using a compulsory licensing scheme to make books available at prices suitable for Guyanese pockets.

Though the monetary penalties under the Copyright Act deters enforcement, Housty reasoned that the millions of Guyanese dollars/thousands of U.S. dollars worth of books that the Ministry of Education intends to procure makes legal action a lucrative prospect.

The South African-trained Intellectual Property expert lamented the adverse impact of the Guyana government being involved in copyright violation for short-term financial gain.

“If you supply books that don’t represent the copyright of the content or the value of the content and you are empowering persons to be creative, what are you telling them at the end of the line when it comes to what creative output that they can put out when what starts it shows no regard for it,” said Housty.

He explained that compulsory licensing option is grounded in the State’s constitutional right to empower individuals intellectually. “There is a responsibility on the part of the State to carry that through, particularly for the children,” he said.

A senior Ministry of Education official on Thursday told DemWaves that all the available options have been explored with several publishers to procure books.

“One of the publishers has said very clearly that I am sorry Guyana cannot beat the prices we get in India,” said the official.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), meanwhile, expressed concern about the government procuring locally mass reproduced books. While acknowledging that the cost of textbooks is expensive for most families, copyright infringement is not the solution.

“It is the position of the Chamber however that the violation and infringement of the intellectual property of publishers and content providers is not the solution to this state of affairs,” said the city business organisation.

The Chamber warned the government that disrespect and damage to intellectual property could destroy a potentially productive sector that could contribute significantly to Guyana’s economy.

Concern was also raised by the GCCI that the government’s endorsement of intellectual property violation was setting a bad example to students.

“This also sends a troubling moral message to our students who will grow up to accept that there is nothing wrong with using the intellectual outputs of others without permission. This is a natural progression to cheating and plagiarism.

The Chamber said it was willing to participate in any efforts to provide solutions in the best interest of all concerned parties and help the country evolve into a knowledge based, information driven economy.

General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) Lincoln Lewis, echoing similar sentiments like those of Housty and the GCCI, said intellectual property violation was  putting workers’ welfare at risk.

“A government has the responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens and respect those it does business with.  To do otherwise is to deny the workers the right to earn.  As a member of the regional/ international family Guyana’s image and relations with others is hurt, when the Government leads the way in flouting international standards and more so rob workers the just reward for their labour,” said Lewis in a statement.

He alerted the Guyana government that deliberately sending an ominous signal to CARICOM that the country is not prepared to respect conventions, agreements and laws can open the gate for retaliation. “The administration ought to be reminded that apart from creating jobs and receiving revenue from traditional products, the region had made significant inroads in intellectual production and all legitimate efforts must be made to safeguard and advance it,” he said.

The GTUC also stressed the need for government to negotiate with publishers to ensure that ethical trade practices prevail while meeting the needs of poor Guyanese. Lewis likened government's approach to sea piracy. "The government’s argument that its decision to source pirate textbooks is driven by economics, conscious that it is violating time honoured principles, laws and rules of engagement among its CARICOM partners, is to concede a behaviour that is not dis-similar to the pirates who prey on our fishermen."