Canadian university takes royalties case to Federal Court of Appeal
Toronto-based York University has announced plans to appeal against a Canadian decision centring on a royalties dispute.
In July, WIPR reported that the Federal Court of Canada had backed Canadian licensing agency Access Copyright in the clash with York.
The court held that the university’s fair dealing guidelines do not excuse it from paying royalties to Access Copyright.
The licensing agency had sought to enforce an interim tariff concerning copying activities by the university’s employees who had used copyrighted material as part of course packs.
In a counterclaim, York argued that any reproductions made fell within the university’s guidelines and the “fair dealing” exception under section 29 of the Copyright Act.
Justice Michael Phelan held that the interim tariff was mandatory and enforceable against York and that York’s guidelines were not fair in either “their terms or their application”.
York’s guidelines, according to the court, failed to satisfy the two-part test laid down by the Supreme Court of Canada’s jurisprudence to determine this issue.
The university’s dealings with copyrighted material met one part of the test—they fell within the named activities in section 29, namely education, research and private study.
However, the activities failed to meet the other part of the test.
The remaining factors that needed to be considered were the character of the dealing, the amount of the dealing, alternatives to the dealing, the nature of the work, and the effect of the dealing.
On Monday, July 31, the university said it would take the case to the Federal Court of Appeal in advance of the October 2, 2017 deadline to appeal.
“York will continue to respect copyright law, including during the appeal process, through a comprehensive system that includes permissions, library licences and acquisitions, transactional licences and application of the fair dealing provision of the Copyright Act,” said the university.
The statement added that the university will “continue to seek potential improvements to our system of copyright compliance and will make modifications where prudent”.
Roanie Levy, president and CEO of Access Copyright, said: “Fair compensation to creators is absolutely vital so that they can continue to create quality content for the classroom. Access Copyright is committed to upholding the rights of creators and publishers to ensure they are fairly compensated when their works are used.”
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