The University of Toronto and Western University today announced that they have each reached an agreement with Access Copyright to allow their communities to reproduce copyright-protected materials in both print and digital formats.
“We believe that this agreement is fair for all the parties – those who create the materials, as well as students who gain access to copyright materials through the University,” said Cheryl Misak, University of Toronto Provost.
“This enables, within certain limits, reproduction of copyright material for students’ use without concern for infringing on copyright restrictions.”
“This agreement gives us a convenient, comprehensive way to share content digitally and in paper form from a repertoire of millions of publications,” said Janice Deakin, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at Western. “The backdating of the agreement gives us peace of mind by covering past digital uses that may have exposed the university and the indemnity provision increases the university’s legal protection against copyright infringement.”
Western and UofT will each pay Access Copyright a royalty of $27.50 per full-time equivalent student annually. This royalty includes what used to be a separate 10 cents per page royalty for coursepack copying, so there will no longer be a separate royalty for such copying. The new royalty is substantially below the amount initially sought by Access Copyright in its Tariff application before the Copyright Board.
This agreement will be in place until December 2013 and will renew automatically for one year terms during which any party can cancel or renegotiate the agreement based on six months notice.
“We welcome this opportunity to work in partnership with Western and UofT” said Maureen Cavan, Executive Director of Access Copyright. “The education and publishing industries depend on one another. An agreement that provides for usage of content, fair compensation to those that provide the content, with rules that favour sustainability, is in the interest of all players” said Ms. Cavan.
Over the course of the next year, a method will be jointly developed to assess the actual volume of copying of copyright protected materials which will assist in determining the appropriateness of the royalty structure in subsequent years.
Contact for the University of Toronto:
Michael Kurts
Assistant Vice-President, Strategic Communications and Marketing
University Relations
University of Toronto
416-978-5947
Contact for Western:
Keith Marnoch
Director of Media and Community Relations
Western University
519-661-2111, ext. 85468
Contacts for Access Copyright:
Maureen Cavan
Executive Director
Access Copyright
416-868-1620, ext. 226
Roanie Levy
General Counsel, Director Policy and External Affairs
Access Copyright
416-868-1620, ext. 233
