Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
NEWMAN
THE JAMAICAN Copyright Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY) has signed agreements with two educational institutions as part of a bid to protect the copyright (and income) of authors and publishers, locally and internationally.
"The licence allows you to use the copies within specified limits from any of these publications that we represent. It sets out the terms, the time, how much you pay," explained Carol Newman, general manager of JAMCOPY, at this week's Gleaner Editors' Forum, which focused on copyright issues.
Under the terms of the agreements, signed with the Jamaica Theological Seminary and the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology, these institutions are now free to photocopy "within set limits", documents and publications from 25 countries, including Jamaica, for a fee.
This development has arisen from a series of bilateral agreements signed by Jamaica and 24 other countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and others in the Caribbean.
DOCUMENTS COPIED
For too long, Mrs. Newman contends, lecturers worldwide have, without giving thought to the rights of authors, made multiple copies of documents available to their students. The practice of photocopying documents in these institutions, she says, will, increasingly, be based on licensing agreements which will protect the financial interests of the authors.
The agreements, she explained, afforded "a blanket licence, so what they eventually pay is a carriage rate per full time student equivalent in the institution on an annual basis".
JAMCOPY is now engaged in discussions with other tertiary institutions and libraries with a view to having similar agreements signed.
Illegal photocopying of books or sections of books is regarded as a major form of piracy, internationally, particularly in poorer countries. According to a 2001 UNESCO estimate, in Latin America alone, authors lost nearly US$500 million in royalties as a result of piracy of their works.
