Photocopying, CAL and the AEShareNet licensing system
Overview
This document discusses the relationship between the AEShareNet licensing system and the operation of statutory licences administered by Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) in relation to photocopying of materials.
Role of Copyright Agency Limited
CAL is a 'collecting society' which administers copyright in Australia on behalf of many owners of literary works and publications. It offers several kinds of blanket licence to copyright users, for a standard tariff. It apportions the proceeds to its copyright owner members based on records or sample data on what materials are being copied.
In addition to voluntary licences, there are two important statutory licence schemes in the Copyright Act 1968 which are administered by CAL:
- the educational photocopying licence under Part VB of the Act;
- the Crown copying licence under section 183 of the Act.
CAL has agreements with relevant governments and educational institutions which set out in more detail the recording and sampling systems which are used to assess royalties under the schemes ('the Sampling Agreements').
Comparison between roles of CAL and the AEShareNet licensing system
The AEShareNet licensing system was conceived initially and principally as a means to licensing of public sector copyright material. The AEShareNet licensing system is intended as a vehicle to manage the shared resources and provide a shared technical infrastructure to permit this licensing activity. However, one regime (AEShareNet-C) allows for royalties, and to the extent that the collection of those royalties is mediated through the Company, it operates as a collating society - like CAL.
Overlap with AEShareNet licensing from a Licensee's viewpoint.
The copyright uses covered under the two statutory licence schemes may overlap with copyright uses covered under the AEShareNet licensing system. However the extent of overlap is small:
- CAL covers mainly photocopying from printed publications, whereas the AEShareNet licensing system covers a range of other copyright uses of different types of material;
- Under AEShareNet only those who have elected to become members may take advantage of the system;
- The statutory licence under Part VB is restricted in a number of ways, most importantly:
- it is not permitted to take more than (approximately) 10% of a work;
- the derivative work may not be generally commercialised.
Where the CAL licences do overlap with AEShareNet licences, a Licensee has a choice of which regime to rely on. In different words: there are two bases on which they can say that their copying does not infringe copyright.
To avoid double counting, copying of materials licensed under AEShareNet licences should logically be discounted in any sampling conducted under the Sampling Agreements. Governments and educational institutions that are members of AEShareNet may wish to check this aspect of their agreements with CAL as they come up for renewal. In any such negotiations, a number of approaches are possible:
- AEShareNet-U material is licensed to everybody (whether or not an AEShareNet Member) and will usually be identifiable on its face. Accordingly it should be a simple matter for staff to code it as E-xempt when completing the survey record;
- for material offered under other licences the contact officer responsible for transacting the licence should ensure that any copies made under the licence are done in bulk at one time and are sufficient to meet the needs of the organisation, so that any incidental copying by staff unaware of the AEShareNet licence is minimal. (It is desirable if the AEShareNet contact officer is the same as the contact officer for CAL survey purposes);
- to the extent that some copying permitted under an AEShareNet license might still be caught in surveys, the survey aggregates could be subject to a small, global discount.
Overlap from Licensor Viewpoint
Some AEShareNet Members may also be author / publisher members of CAL. As such they will be entitled to receive royalties collected on their behalf by CAL under the statutory licence schemes.
Under the schemes, distribution of remuneration to copyright owners is based on sample records of photocopying which record the author, title, publisher etc, as shown in the publication.
To ensure that this remuneration is correctly distributed, AEShareNet Licence Protocols contain careful rules regarding the retention of Copyright Notices and Licence Marks on copies and derivatives made and distributed by a Licensee. Generally the Licensor's Notice is retained where the original material is Enhanced. In some cases the Licensor and Licensee may negotiate over the Copyright Notice, and under AEShareNet-U the Licensee may apply their own Copyright Notice.
Any statutory licence revenue should then be distributed in accordance with the Copyright Notice determined as above.