From: Heather Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 17 May 2013 15:11:46 -0700

Access Copyright has applied to the Canadian Copyright Board for a
tariff to force a $35 / student payment on the post-secondary sector:

http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2013/2013-05-18/html/sup1-eng.html

This is a tenfold increase from the previous rate.

There are many problems with this proposed tariff: in this post, I'll
highlight two, and ask some questions about potential actions that
libraries and universities might consider with respect to our
licenses:

First, there is the sheer absurdity of paying MORE for copying when so
much of what we purchase is bought not in the old single-copy paper
model (where paying to make extra copies did make some sense), but
rather as electronic resources for which we are already paying a lot
more for sitewide access.

Second, it appears to me that this is a system significantly lacking
in transparency. Because libraries are already paying quite a bit for
usage of many of the resources, perhaps we should be looking carefully
to make sure that some of the publishers we are paying are not
double-dipping by collecting for sitewide usage with broad-based
rights, then collecting again through copyright collectives.

For example, using the Access Copyright lookup tool I see that if I
have a copy in digital format only of Elsevier's Accident and
Emergency Nursing, then "You may make a copy of this publication under
your Access Copyright licence or tariff.*" What's wrong with this
picture? Canada's university libraries that subscribe to Science
Direct are paying quite a bit for university usage which would include
the uses Access Copyright is seeking under the tariff.

This isn't a national issue anymore. There is nothing in the Access
Copyright application to the Copyright Board that says that they are
collecting money to send to publishers based in other countries, on
the Access Copyright website is a link to the International Federation
of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO): http://www.ifrro.org/

Two questions:

1.      If indeed publishers are collecting via copyright collectives
in addition to the revenue that they get from us via licenses that
cover the same uses, wouldn't this be a breach of our "This
Agreement...shall comprise the complete terms and conditions of use"?
If so, this would not be a new breach, but rather one that extends
back quite a bit in time, right? If this is the case, it strikes me
that this might give our universities potential avenues of legal
push-back worth exploring with the campus lawyers.

2.      Should we start asking for full disclosure of participation in
copyright collectives in our negotiations? Access Copyright is suing
York University. Given that Elsevier content is obviously in Access
Copyright's repertoire, then indirectly this is Elsevier suing York
University, isn't it?

Thoughts?

Dr. Heather G. Morrison
Freedom for scholarship in the internet age
http://summit.sfu.ca/item/12537