Access Copyright Archives

Access Copyright moves to collect royalties

Access Copyright has taken legal action on three fronts. It sued York University for reproducing works covered by its repertoire without payment of royalties under the Interim Tariff approved by the Copyright Board. It also filed an application for an interim tariff covering copying in elementary and secondary schools. Last, Access Copyright filed a proposed post‐secondary tariff for the period of 2014‐2017. Access Copyright’s press release is here. A copy of the Statement of Claim is here.…

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When a tweet crosses the line

I can’t figure this one out. I’m a lawyer, not a psychologist.

After the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in the Access Copyright case, two academics, Michael Geist and Ariel Katz, stepped up their attacks on Access Copyright.

Michael Geist claimed that the Supreme Court’s decision eviscerated Access Copyright’s business model. In a reply blog post I showed this claim did not stand up to scrutiny.

Ariel Katz jumped in to defend Michael Geist. A major portion of his blog, however, contained a vitriolic attack on Access Copyright.…

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Even more on Access Copyright and the Supreme Court: eviscerated or not?

My mother warned me to be suspicious when people give gratuitous compliments. So, I read with some suspicion the recent blog post by Ariel Katz, who responded to my post Did the Supreme Court eviscerate Access Copyright’s business model? A reply to Michael Geist, generously calling me a “well experienced lawyer” and a “smart well-trained lawyer”.[[1]]

In that post I argued that Michael Geist’s claim that the Supreme Court’s decision eviscerated Access Copyright’s business model did not stand up to scrutiny.…

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Did the Supreme Court eviscerate Access Copyright’s business model? A reply to Michael Geist

Michael Geist in a series of recent blog posts claims that the decisions of the Supreme Court in the SOCAN v. Bell Canada, 2012 SCC 36 (SOCAN v Bell) and Alberta (Education) v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), 2012 SCC 37 (Access Copyright) cases eviscerated Access Copyright’s business model.[1] He asserts that the cases make all copying that would be subject to a license from Access Copyright fair dealings. Moreover, he claims that publishers would not suffer significant economic harm if all copying permitted under Access Copyright licenses or model licenses were fair dealings and no educational institution, whether elementary, secondary, or post-secondary, paid a penny for all such uses.

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Fair Dealing

Did the Supreme Court supplant the market for Access Copyright licenses?

Just over two weeks ago, the Supreme Court released its opinion in the Alberta (Education) v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, 2012 SCC 37 (Access Copyright) fair dealing case. In that proceeding, the Copyright Board examined whether copying of short extracts of works for classroom teaching purposes was a fair dealing.* The Board and the Federal Court of Appeal found it was not. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and remitted the matter to the Board to reconsider its decision in accordance with the Court’s construction of the fair dealing factors.…

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University course packs going digital

There has been a lot of debate recently concerning how universities should access and pay for content used for teaching purposes. Some, like Michael Geist, have argued that universities should forgo collective licensing from Access Copyright in favor of other “alternatives”.

Earlier this week, Metro Morning interviewed Jesse Hirsh on this topic. Check out the interview. Here’s a bit of what Jesse Hirsh had to say:

MATT GALLOWAY: What sort of copyright issues do digital course packs present?

JESSE HIRSH: Oh this all comes down to the resilience of the photocopier that has been a key ingredient of allowing universities to keep up in the era of the web.

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Copyright Board grants interim relief to Access Copyright

In a decision released earlier today, the Copyright Board granted Access Copyright interim relief in relation to its Post-Secondary Educational Institutions Reprographic Reproduction (2011-2013) tariff. The reasons for decision will be released later.

The purpose of the relief was to achieve the following main objectives:

– to provide certainty to targeted institutions by informing them now of what they may or may not do in using the repertoire of Access Copyright pursuant to the interim tariff starting January 1, 2011;

– to maintain the status quo to the extent possible.

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