Access Copyright and the University of Alberta

The University of Alberta’s current license agreement with Access Copyright will expire on December 31, 2015, and we have decided not to renew or renegotiate the agreement at this time. The university has had a strong and valuable working relationship with Access Copyright for many years, most recently through the five-year license agreement that commenced on January 1, 2011. As many of you will know, Access Copyright is a non-profit, national organization that represents Canadian creators and publishers of copyright material and grants licenses for the reproduction of copyright-protected published works. Under the current license agreement, the U of A pays a royalty to Access Copyright which permits university students, faculty and staff to copy a specified range of certain copyright-protected works.

The reasons for choosing not to continue with a new Access Copyright agreement as of Dec 31, 2015 are due to changes in the overall copyright landscape in Canada, as well as more specific changes at the university, over the last five years. These changes include the following:

(a) In 2012, there were amendments to Canada’s Copyright Act, as well as new decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada, which have combined to clarify and strengthen the principles of fair dealing;

(b) the University of Alberta Library has increased its licensing of electronic resources that can be used, under the terms of those licenses, by students, faculty and staff; and

(c) more and more material is available from Open Source venues or is publicly available, without restrictions, on the web.

As a result of these factors, a significant percentage of the reproduction of copyright material that had been covered by the Access Copyright license can now be reproduced by members of the university community for comparable purposes without the need for, or expense of, such a license.

Although we will not be renewing the current Access Copyright license, the university will continue to maintain policies, procedures, and practices that ensure we are in compliance with Canadian copyright law. For those copyright-protected materials that do require a license or permission from the copyright owner before use on campus, staff in the U of A’s Copyright Office will take steps to ensure the required licenses or permissions are sought. Indeed, resources that would otherwise have been applied to paying the royalty and the costs associated with reporting to Access Copyright will now be used in part to expand the capacity of the Copyright Office to seek required permissions and licenses for the use of copyright-protected material. Staff will also increase efforts to promote “copyright literacy” throughout the university community. In short, while in the past our agreement with Access Copyright has been a useful tool in our overall strategy to remain compliant with copyright law, the University of Alberta has decided that, through expanded operations of the Copyright Office, we can continue to maintain our compliance in a more cost-effective way without renewing our Access Copyright license.

We do not anticipate any significant impact on the university community for the Winter 2016 term resulting from this decision. Please continue to follow the procedures for copyright review of course materials that have now been in place for several terms. Given that there are likely to be some course materials formerly covered by the Access Copyright License that will now require separate licenses, we encourage instructors to submit their Winter 2016 course materials for review as early as possible. We will continue to review and improve current procedures and practices on an ongoing basis.

Please submit any questions or requests for specific additional information via email to copyright@ualberta.ca. A copy of the letter formally notifying Access Copyright of this decision, along with a list of FAQs and other additional information, can be found at copyright.ualberta.ca.

Steven Dew

Provost and Vice-President (Academic)

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About the Copyright Office

The mission of the University of Alberta Copyright Office is to educate and support U of A students, faculty and staff as those issues relate to teaching and learning, research and scholarly communications, and to develop and implement best practices to promote access to information in accordance with the University’s Use of Copyright Materials Policy.

More information about the Copyright Office can be found at copyright.ualberta.ca

If you have any questions, please contact copyright@ualberta.ca

30Sep2015