‘I have to sue schools’

AN educational author said he is considering taking legal action against more than 80 schools over breaches of the Copyright Act by teachers and other school administrators.

The author, Everett Fraser, said he has spent more than a decade gathering material to produce text and workbooks for students, spending millions of dollars to publish his work. However, he said he is not seeing the rewards of his labour as many teachers at several institutions are photocopying, scanning, or taking pictures of the entirety of his publications to share with their students instead of purchasing the material or adding it to the book list.

An educator himself, Fraser said the revelation came through his own investigations at some institutions, and interactions with teachers who became hostile when confronted about their actions. He called a meeting with the Ministry of Education to discuss the matter, stressing the need for teachers to be sensitised.