Friday, March 08, 2013

AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS SEEK FAIR COPYRIGHT DEAL FROM UNIVERSITIES



A refusal by the country’s eight universities to agree a fairer annual licence fee, allowing lecturers to copy authors work for their students, has left the non profit organisation that protects and licenses copyrighted work no option but to file a case with the Copyright Tribunal.

As the academic year kicks off New Zealand universities are selling ‘course packs’ to students containing photocopied chapters and articles saving students from having to purchase full textbooks.

Universities must obtain appropriate licences in order to legally provide large amounts of copied course material to students outside what’s allowed under the Copyright Act.  Without a licence, universities cannot charge for course packs and students would have to purchase the whole book or publication.  

The licensing scheme operated by Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) ensures that authors and publishers are being fairly paid for the use of their work.  A CLNZ licence enables university staff to copy and share an extensive range of printed resources to ensure their teaching meets international standards. The net proceeds of the licensing scheme are paid out to the authors and publishers whose works are copied by the universities.

It will be the first time the Copyright Tribunal has looked at what universities are paying for the licence fee.  But it’s a move CLNZ Chief Executive, Paula Browning says the organisation has been forced to take.  She says after a year of negotiations, Universities New Zealand (UNZ) has refused to budge on the current $20 fee per student, which was agreed back in 2007.

“Despite increases in the average number of pages being copied per student and the ability the licence gives universities to provide copies electronically to students, the universities aren’t prepared to agree to the modest $6 increase in the annual fee sought, which hasn’t been adjusted in over 5 years,” said Paula Browning.

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