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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