Publishers’ association of south africa

Illegal Copying In Schools
The levels of copying taking place in schools in South Africa are giving increasing cause for concern. Publishers are aware of schools in which entire textbooks are being copied and sold by teachers and the KwaZulu-Natal case mentioned above revealed wholesale production of pirated, photocopied textbooks being supplied to state schools.
Members of the publishing industry who are parents of children in public schools have reported that classes are supplied with ‘textbooks’ that are compilations of extracts from different published textbooks. Illegal anthologies of poems, short stories and extracts form novels have long been a feature of South African classrooms.
Publishers in the Western Cape, reviewing textbook buying patterns, have come across instances where very low book purchasing budgets are accompanied by very high photocopying budgets. Similar patterns have been identified by the Gauteng Department of Education.
The overwhelming majority of school textbooks are locally produced. Textbooks are purchased by provincial government departments, leading to a situation in which the government is in fact the major book purchaser. In this arena, therefore, the purchaser is not the end-user.
Schoolbooks are the staple of the South African publishing industry. When the schoolbook market falters, as it did in 1997, the ripple effect – downsizing, job losses and demoralisation – affects the whole industry. The growth and development of publishing, writing and reading in South Africa thus depend very critically on viable markets in school textbooks.
Problems in the schools sector include high levels of classroom copying of compilations, anthologies and even of whole books. It should be noted that in those cases where educators are copying published books and selling them to learners, whether at cost or for profit, they could be found guilty of criminal copyright violation in a court of law and, if found guilty, would have a criminal record.
In a successful prosecution of a copyshop in KwaZulu-Natal conducted by a group of publishers, large volumes of pirated books were seized, apparently intended for sale to schools throughout the province.
Although some teachers compile and distribute compilations of their own learning materials together with extracts from published sources (school versions of course packs)²⁸, this was not in the past the primary source of publishers’ losses because the majority of teachers especially in rural schools are ill-prepared to devise their own teaching materials and have preferred to rely on textbooks.
However, now educational publishers fear, with some justification, that in many schools books are not being bought because they are photocopied instead, purportedly to save money. When a school orders one or two copies of a title for a whole class, or when its paper spend exceeds its book spend,²⁹ suspicions are justifiably aroused. Publishers’ sales representatives and parents are increasingly reporting that schools are using the promotional copies supplied to them and then photocopying and selling these pirated copies of books to parents. These products are likely to be inferior in quality to the published books and also more expensive.
Educational specialists in the publishing sector also complain at the pedagogical problems created, and the undermining of the intentions of the new curriculum, by teachers who misguidedly copy extracts from various textbooks, carefully conceptualised by their authors to provide coherence in approach, assuming that these are the ‘resources’ needed by the new system. Instead, this illegal copying not only undermines the viability and the cost-effectiveness of the publishing industry, but also undermines the integrity of published works and detracts from the appreciation of books as a source of enrichment.
The publishing industry has not yet been able to quantify the levels of such alleged infringements or of losses to the industry, and this report is unable to provide statistics either, for none exist. The best the authors of this report could do was try to gain insights about the extent to which publishers are being cheated and what the attitudes are of the leading education departments.
The Effects of Illegal Copying in Schools
Ironically, high levels of copying, often carried out with the aim of reducing costs, has the opposite effect. Low prices for textbooks depend primarily on the length the publishers’ print runs – the higher the print run the lower the cost. In general, photocopying a school textbook is likely to be more expensive than buying the book in cases where substantial print runs have led to economies of scale and low prices.
It is therefore not only in the interests of school authors and publishers, but also of the provincial education departments to cut back on excessive copying in schools.
Copyright Awareness Campaigns in Schools
In the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), the Copyright Forum, an informal grouping of teachers, librarians and officials of the Library and Information Services (LIS) and Learning Support Materials (LSM) drafted a policy document for its schools on the Copyright Act, which is distributed as a manual for use by school principals. The basis of GDE policy is that excessive photocopying inhibits creativity whereas teachers should be encouraged to develop their own, original materials where feasible; a further motive is the fear of legal action against a school, for which the Department would be ultimately liable.³⁰
The development of this policy is admirable; however, implementation is altogether more difficult. To stimulate copyright awareness is important, but to control infringement is difficult, and the GDE admits that the means of control in its schools are lacking. The Department has no hard facts and no statistics. It has, however, noticed bloated stationary allocations in some schools and is already investigating.³¹
As far as the schools are concerned, therefore, publishers do not believe that the short- or medium-term solution to the problem of copyright infringement lies with the law (although they would vigorously oppose any initiative to relax the current legal provisions).
The best solution would seem to be campaigns on copyright awareness, with the print industries and the National Department of Education working together to promote an understanding of the value of relevant locally-produced textbooks. The ultimate goal would be the negotiation of licensing agreements, with statutory backing.
The print industries sector is concerned that such practices not only undermine the most important book market in South Africa and contribute to higher costs for school textbooks, but also that a pattern which undermines respect for the value of books in education is being established very early on in the education system.
Collective Licensing in the Schools Sector
In other countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, for example) schools hold blanket licences, negotiated through departments of education, and far more is collected from them for disbursement to rights owners than from higher education institutions.
DALRO has reported that two provincial education departments in South Africa³², having investigated the principles of blanket licensing, are in favour of it. South African publishers, however, are wary of extending blanket licensing to schools right now because they fear that in the current situation, with very low levels of copyright understanding in schools and little respect for copyright, the system could be abused. Moreover, none of the provincial education departments has the infrastructure, at present, to administer licensing.
Nevertheless, the door should not be closed on the extension of blanket licensing to schools, as international experience, in countries like Australia, Canada and Norway, suggests that this is the most effective way of providing for classroom needs for supplementary materials while ensuring protection for the rights of authors and publishers.
There is cause for concern at the levels of illegal copying in schools, the losses this is incurring for publishers and the negative impact that this has on book prices.
Rising levels of illegal copying in schools can and should be addressed, in the first instance, through awareness and educational campaigns in schools. The positive levels of communication and understanding that now exist between the Department of Education and the publishing industry is encouraging and should help address the situation.
RECOMMENDATIONS

8. 
   Rising levels of illegal copying in schools can and should be addressed, in the first instance, through awareness and educational campaigns in schools. The positive levels of communication and understanding that now exist between the Department of Education and the publishing industry are encouraging and should help address the situation.
   

9. 
   Factors in the educational system aggravating the trend towards copying should be addressed with the national and provincial departments of education and departmental cooperation sought in combating illegal copying.
   

10. 
    Education departments and educators should be made aware of the risks attached to gross copyright violation.
    

11. 
    Following on policy initiatives on the ownership and accountability of collecting societies in South Africa, and in the wake of copyright awareness campaigns in schools, there needs to be an investigation, with the print industries sector, DALRO and the DoE of the desirability of introducing blanket licensing in schools for print and digital copying of resource materials.
    

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