Canadian Writers Speak Out on Copyright

On February 15, the Writers' Union of Canada, under the leadership of Alan Cumyn, released a video featuring five writers discussing the perils of Bill C-32, Canada's controversial new copyright bill. The video can be viewed online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qrcNksj5DE.

Access Copyright encourages all our creator and publishers affiliates, and member organizations to spread the word about this video. To those who have already written about the video on Facebook or Twitter or forwarded it onto others, a sincere thank you! With your help, the video has already been viewed over 8,000 times.

Let's keep the momentum going! Please continue to write, email, blog or Tweet about this video to as many individuals as possible.

Read how you can help.

The Access Copyright Interim Post-Secondary Educational Institution Tariff, 2011-2013

On December 23, 2010, the Copyright Board of Canada issued the Access Copyright Interim Post-Secondary Educational Institution Tariff, 2011-2013. The Interim Tariff is a win for both rightsholders of published works and the post-secondary community.

The Interim Tariff maintains the status quo of the current licence between Access Copyright and post-secondary institutions across Canada. Access Copyright worked hard to provide a solution that ensures that creators and publishers will continue to be compensated for the use of their works and provides certainty among post-secondary institutions that they can continue to make copies to support their educational mandate.

The Interim Tariff allows post-secondary institutions to continue their long-standing photocopying practices and also includes an option to make digital copies of published works, including posting material to course websites, e-reserves or emailing material to students. It ensures that professors, staff and students have access to over 22 million works and gives institutions pre-clearance to use a multitude of resources that they otherwise would not have immediate access to.

Without the Interim Tariff, use of material in Access Copyright's repertoire would involve time-consuming and costly steps in clearing each work and require institutions to incur additional overhead, administrative and transaction costs. The Interim Tariff is a fast, cost-effective alternative that preserves the administrative processes that post-secondary institutions have had in place over the past 16 years.  

Through the Interim Tariff, publishers and creators will continue to be fairly compensated; professors, staff and students can continue to copy portions of published works and get their work done as usual.

The Interim Tariff will apply until December 31, 2013 or when a final tariff is certified by the Copyright Board of Canada for post-secondary institutions, whichever is earliest.

For more information on the Interim Tariff, please visit the Copyright Board of Canada's website.*

*The Interim Tariff is still under review by the Copyright Board of Canada. As such, some of the terms may change.

It's almost that time of year to start thinking about making your claim for Payback. We will begin accepting online submissions for this year's payment in April.

For those affiliates who made a claim for last year's payment, you will only have to report the number of works that were published in 2009 for which you retain copyright. This new information, along with the data we have on file for your works between 1990 and 2008, will be used to calculate the supplementary portion of your 2011 Payback payment.  

For those affiliates who did not make a claim for last year's payment or who became an affiliate of Access Copyright in 2009, you must complete our online Payback claim form and list the number of works for which you retain copyright that were published between 1990 and 2009 in order to receive a supplementary payment. If you are a visual-artist affiliate, you can make a claim for this year's Payback payment regardless of when you became an affiliate

Under Payback, all eligible creators are entitled to a base payment. In addition to the base payment, creators may receive a supplementary payment that will vary depending on what genre of work you published (books, magazines, scholarly journals and newspapers), how much you published and when you published. In order to receive this supplementary payment, you must make a Payback claim.

For more information on Payback, please visit our website.

Nino Ricci to Headline the 2011 Access Copyright Annual General Meeting

Photo by Gregory Varano.

Access Copyright will be holding its 2011 Annual General Meeting in Toronto on Friday, March 25 at the Westin Harbour Castle. 

This year's AGM proceedings will be kicked off with a spirited and inspiring talk by renowned author Nino Ricci at 1:00 p.m.

Nino will talk about his recent efforts taking a stand against Bill C-32, the backlash he has received and his insistence to continue to speak out.  

For more information on this year's meeting, please email us.

A full report on this year's meeting will appear in our April e-newsletter.

Access Copyright Foundation Professional Development Grants

The Access Copyright Foundation will soon be accepting applications for Professional Development Grants. The deadline for applications is May 1.

The Professional Development Grants provide access to specialized training and continued education for writers, visual artists and arts professionals employed or contracted by Canadian publishers or writing and visual arts organizations.

To read more, please click here. 

Important Update on the Google Book Settlement

On February 18, 2011, the U.S. District Court extended the deadline to make a claim under the Google Book Settlement for works already digitized by Google from March 31, 2011 to one year after the Court issues an order approving the Amended Settlement Agreement.

The Amended Settlement Agreement reached between Google, the Authors Guild Inc. and the Association of American Publishers has not yet been approved.   

A fairness hearing on the Google Settlement was held on February 18, 2010.  From the fairness hearing, the U.S. District Court will decide if it will approve the Amended Settlement Agreement.   No decision was made at the hearing and there is still no indication when a decision will be rendered.   

When a decision has been made, we will inform our affiliates of the new date by which claims under the Google Book Settlement must be filed.   

Rightsholders whose works were digitized by Google before May 5, 2009 are eligible to make a claim for a cash payment under the Settlement. For information on making a claim, please click here.

Important Dates:

One year after the Court approves the Amended Settlement Agreement: The deadline to claim a cash payment for works already digitized by Google.

March 9, 2012: The deadline to request that Google removes your book from all Google servers.

Canadian Cultural Industries' Release Joint Statement on Bill C-32

On February 3 at a press conference held on Parliament Hill, a joint statement on Bill C-32, signed by an unprecedented number of cultural organizations including Access Copyright, was released.

The statement is a strong showing of solidarity by the cultural sector against a bill that is dangerously flawed. The statement, as well as the recent video released by the Writers' Union of Canada on YouTube, is part of an ongoing effort by Canada's creative and artistic community to ensure that existing rights and revenue are protected and enhanced by whatever law ends up being adopted by Parliament.

For more information on the statement, please click here.

Income Tax Time Is Here Again

The payments you receive from Access Copyright are considered taxable income. As a result, Access Copyright has to keep track of these payments and record them on a T5 slip.

We have mailed out T5 slips the week of February 14.

If you have any questions about your T5 slip or if you want more information on your royalty payment history with Access Copyright, please contact our Affiliate Services department by email.

For general information on T5 slips, please visit the Canada Revenue Agency's website or read Bulletin IT-504R2 (Consolidated) Visual Artists and Writers.

Registration for the Public Lending Right is Open for 2011

The Public Lending Right (PLR) Commission distributes an annual payment to Canadian authors for the availability of their books in Canadian public libraries.

To be eligible to receive a payment for the availability of your books in Canadian public libraries, you must be eligible for the PLR. Authors, co-authors, translators, illustrators, photographers and anthology contributors are all potentially eligible. This year's registration period for the PLR is open until May 1. To download a registration form, please click here.

If you are already registered with the PLR Commission but have recently changed your contact information, you need to send this information to the PLR Commission. Contact details for the PLR are below. As well, if you would like to add works to your file with the PLR Commission, you will need to complete and send in the File Update form before May 1 that you received in the mail.

For more information on the PLR Commission, please click here.

Public Lending Right Commission
350 Albert, P.O. Box 1047 / C.P. 1047
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
Tel: 1 800 521-5721
Fax: (613) 566-4418
E-mail:

plr@canadacouncil.ca 

Have You Signed up for Direct Deposit Yet?

The Writers' Coalition Program: Benefits for Canadian Writers

The Writers' Coalition Program offers a full suite of health, dental and drug benefits to Canadian creators. Through the ACTRA Fraternal Benefits Society (AFBS), the program offers premiums that are lower than what other commercial insurers offer.  

As an Access Copyright affiliate, you are automatically eligible for this program. There is no medical required to join, you can also buy separate home, auto and small business insurance, and coverage increases after the first and second year of joining the program.

The fact that this program exists at all is due to the work of writer Susan Swan. Click here to read her story of how watching the movie Gladiator inspired her to launch this important initiative.

Access Copyright is a proud member of this program.

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