TORONTO, ONTARIO — (Dec 10, 2019) — The Canadian Publishers’ Council (CPC) welcomed the
December 6th decision by the Copyright Board of Canada, a long-awaited ruling that brings more
structure and clarity to the market for educational materials on Canadian post-secondary campuses.
After a wait of nearly nine years, since initial tariff proposals were filed by Access Copyright in March
2010, the creative community has a clear message about the value of educational resources and their
wide-spread reproduction on post-secondary campuses. “Creators and educators have been anticipating this ruling for some time, and CPC is heartened to finally see a tariff framework that can form the basis for renewed cooperation between educational institutions and Access Copyright,” said CPC Chair Craig Swinwood. “We are confident that there is strong value to be established in renewed licences, and encourage all parties to use the Copyright Board’s ruling as a catalyst for discussion to that end.”
The newly released tariff rates cover the periods from 2011-14 and 2015-17. While the latter period’s
rates have been reduced to reflect Educational Fair Dealing impacts, the Federal Court has cast doubt on the legalities of fair dealing guidelines in its York v. Access Copyright decision of July 2017. “While we
are very supportive of the clarity that this decision brings to the market, we expect further court decisions will bring additional focus to guidelines in use on Canadian campuses,” said CPC President David Swail. “We do respect the Board’s diligence in its decision regardless, and we trust that steps to modernize Copyright Board operations will continue to lead to more timely decisions,” he added.
About CPC
Founded in 1910, the Canadian Publishers’ Council (CPC) represents the interests of publishing
companies that publish books and other media for elementary and secondary schools, colleges and
universities, professional and reference markets, the retail and library sectors. Members employ more than 3,000 Canadians and collectively account for nearly three-quarters of all domestic sales of Englishlanguage books, with a significant presence in French-language publishing in Quebec. As importantly, member firms pay over $36 million in royalties to Canada’s writers and creators.
Download the media release: CPC Welcomes Copyright Board Tariff Decision (PDF)