the briefing room

A copyright licensing agency says concerns about its controversial new agreement with the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario are “unfounded and unjustified.”

Access Copyright collects royalties for course packs, anthologies of readings from books and journals compiled by professors. Under the agreement, the fee has been changed from $3.83 plus 10 cents a page to a flat fee of $27.50 for all course packs, which students pay.

The agency also states that hyperlinks to copyright material — contained in an email from a professor to a student, for example — fall under the tariff agreement. The $27.50 covers those royalties too.

But the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) says the agreement states that linking to a website is equivalent to making an illegal reproduction and allows for faculty emails to be monitored.

“What that means is that universities have to snoop into their faculty email which they have no right to do,” said James Turk, executive director of CAUT.

Turk also said Access Copyright’s royalty fee increase was unfair to students. “Toronto’s and Western Ontario’s actions are inexplicable. They have buckled under Access Copyright’s outrageous and unjustified demands.”

Maureen Cavan, Access Copyright executive director, said CAUT’s claims bear no resemblance to the agreement… Read More