Lawyers for Turnbull’s publisher wrote to PM’s adviser Nico Louw on Sunday after it emerged multiple digital copies of the book had been circulated

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

A senior adviser to Scott Morrison has apologised for sending unauthorised copies of Malcolm Turnbull’s memoir to 59 friends.

It is understood the adviser to the prime minister, Nico Louw, received a copy of the book unsolicited.

Turnbull’s memoir, A Bigger Picture, is not officially published until Monday.

A spokesman for the prime minister said on Sunday evening: “The prime minister’s office will not comment on legal proceedings.

“Staff have been reminded of their obligations under copyright law, and of the high standards of conduct expected of them.”

The embarrassing episode erupted on Sunday when lawyers for Turnbull and his publisher Hardie Grant said they believed unauthorised digital copies of the book had been widely distributed.

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One Liberal MP told Turnbull he had received five copies and a journalist said she had received six.

A letter of complaint was sent by text and email on Saturday to Louw by Nicholas Pullen of lawyers HWL Ebsworth, representing Turnbull and his publishers.

Pullen wrote he had been instructed Louw was “responsible for unauthorised distribution of my client’s book” in digital form.

“It has occurred on a massive scale,” Pullen wrote.

“Further, that you are encouraging others to distribute it. Such an act is calculated to cause irreparable harm and damage to my clients.”

Louw did not respond to requests for comment from Guardian Australia, but Turnbull told Guardian Australia late on Sunday Louw had contacted his lawyers and acknowledged he had circulated the digital version of the book to 59 acquaintances.

There is no suggestion Scott Morrison participated in distribution of the digital version of the book or even that he received one himself.

In the book Turnbull portrays Morrison as a “control freak” and a plotter against another former prime minister, Tony Abbott.

Turnbull told Guardian Australia on Sunday he could not understand why someone would want to send a copy of the book around in such large numbers, unless it was aimed at reducing his earnings from regular sales.

“This is a matter of principle. Copyright theft costs hundreds of jobs,” he told Guardian Australia.

Some of the book’s contents were published on Thursday in the Australian newspaper without Turnbull’s or the publisher’s permission.

The journalists involved have not revealed how they got the book but there is now speculation they might have been among the many who were sent the digital copy.

Foreign minister Marise Payne told ABC TV’s Insiders on Sunday that she had been sent a copy and had deleted it.

“I would encourage anyone who has received [it] to do the same thing,” Payne said. She would not say who sent her the file but said it did not come from the prime minister’s office.

Turnbull heard about the wide circulation of the copy on Saturday night when a friend forwarded him a text containing the digital version and the identity of the person who had forwarded it.

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Publisher Hardie Grant in a statement on Saturday it had become aware on Saturday that “a pirated copy” of the Turnbull book “was being circulated to government employees”.

Company chief executive Sandy Grant said attention had been drawn to distribution of the copy “from an address from within the PMO (prime minister’s office).”

The chief executive of the Australian Publishing Association, Michael Gordon-Smith, was quoted in the statement saying, “Everyone in government, and especially anyone with a leadership role, has an obligation not just to observe the law but to uphold it.”

Grant said the book had been shared “multiple times with one email claiming that a top aide in the Morrison government had sent it to ‘millions’ of others.”

He said: “This illegal distribution of the ebook signifies a massive breach of intellectual property right, a problem that affects many bestselling books throughout the world.”