Access...an e-newsletter for Creator Affiliates

September 2012   

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On July 12, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Council of Ministers of Education's appeal of Access Copyright's Elementary and Secondary School.

Several groups have wasted no time to embrace a "copy-free" interpretation of the ruling by incorrectly asserting that educational institutions no longer need licences to copy.

This is not the case.

Access Copyright will be distributing its next set of royalty distributions to copyright owners this month.

Royalties will be distributed under the following categories:

• Full Reporting (Title-Specific) royalties collected from post-secondary institutions, business and non-profit sector and other territories between January 1, 2008, and August 31, 2012.
• K-12 Schools (Title-Specific) royalties collected between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012.
• Digital royalties from 2010 received from Australia.
• Pending payments including those under $25.

Access Copyright will be making its next distribution in November for Payback to eligible creator affiliates.

Learn more about how Access Copyright distributes royalties.

Read our 2012 Distribution Schedule.

(Credit: Gregory Varano)

Maureen Cavan, Executive Director of Access Copyright, has advised the Board of Directors of Access Copyright of her personal decision to retire effective December 31, 2012. After a long working career of forty-five years, she is looking forward to pursuing personal interests and spending more time with her family.

Over her eight-year tenure as Executive Director of Access Copyright, Maureen has left an indelible mark on the agency. Her diplomatic yet tenacious leadership has allowed Access Copyright to successfully face many challenges, carve out new opportunities, revamp distribution policies and build an efficient operational culture of strong customer service and a cross functional approach to problem solving. She leaves us with a strong leadership team, well prepared to support and guide a new leader.

The Board of Directors is committed to undertaking both an external and internal search for candidates and have engaged an executive search firm to conduct the search.

In just over three months after joining Twitter, Access Copyright has over 550 followers and some avid re-tweeters.

Our Twitter feed reflects the community that we are proud to serve, with copyright and legal news, links to interesting stories about the Canadian literary scene, updates from departments, and other important information and announcements. We share stories from our affiliates, member organizations, and other reproduction rights organizations from around the world as part of the symbiotic community that is social media.

Here are some choice tweets from our feed.

• June 5: Access Copyright's co-chairs speak about the AC board working collaboratively http://tinyurl.com/cvswuer 
• June 27: Bill C-11 passed last night by the Senate. Bill to now go through an order-in-council process http://tinyurl.com/6lmsrk2 via @bsookman #c11 
• July 10: Supreme Court to rule on five landmark copyright cases http://tinyurl.com/6rnjwvn 
• July 12: Access Copyright's response on SCC decision http://tinyurl.com/78pnnfs 
• August 2: Like lunch, writing isn't free http://soc.li/MYn4FZW by @jkdegen in @globeandmail 
• August 15: Check out this piece from the @nybooks 'Does Copyright Matter?' http://tinyurl.com/cktsmo2 

If you are one of our Twitter followers, thanks for following us. Feel free to tweet your followers to join us on Twitter as well.

If you are not one of our Twitter followers, join our community of followers and follow us on Twitter today!

If you have recently moved or changed your contact information, please login to our Rights Management System (RMS) and update your contact details with us in advance of this fall's Payback distribution.

As well, if you are signed up with us for direct deposit and your banking information has changed recently, please download our Direct Deposit Enrolment Form as soon as possible and send it back to us, along with a void cheque, by mail to One Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto ON, M5E 1E5, Attention: Accounting, by fax to 416-868-1621 or scan and email the form back to us at

affiliates@accesscopyright.ca.

Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, received royal assent on June 29 after it was passed by the House of Commons on June 18 and by the Senate on June 29.

Many of Canada's cultural community, concerned about the Bill's expansion of fair dealing exceptions to include three new allowable purposes including education, testified in front of the Senate Banking Committee. Among those who testified was Roanie Levy, Access Copyright's General Counsel and Director of Legal and External Affairs. However, the Senate passed the bill without making any amendments.

After an order-in-council is completed in the next couple of months, the Bill will become law.

With the introduction of four new model licences for the Post-Secondary sector since the beginning of this year, our Licensing Administration, Finance and IT departments have been looking forward to the opportunity to integrate these new licences into the company's operations.

The four model licences are for the University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario, members of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), members of the Association of Community Colleges of Canada (ACCC) and other post-secondary training or vocational institutions.

Adding these new model licences to the company's operations presented several challenges, including the fact that each model licence needs to be administered differently. We have met these operational challenges by fully integrating these licences into our operations and we will be able to administer them with ease.

Our Education Licensing Development department has been busy over the past couple of months promoting the model licences Access Copyright has signed with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC). Working closely with the Communications department, the department has been providing materials on the licences, now available on our website, to support those post-secondary institutions that signed the AUCC or ACCC Model Licence.  

Read More... 

(Credit: Gregory Varano)

Roanie Levy, Access Copyright's General Counsel and Director of Legal and External Affairs, will be taking part in "Copyright Law and Practice in Canada Now," a two-day conference dedicated to examining what impact the recently passed Bill C-11 and the recent quintet of copyright rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada will have on those who create copyright protected content and those who consume and depend on it. The conference will take place on December 3 and 4 in Toronto and is run by Insight Information.

Roanie will be taking part in a panel discussion on striking the right balance in copyright law between content creators and the users of that content. Joining Roanie on the panel will be Sunny Handa, Partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Jackie Hushion, Executive Director, External Relations, Legal and Government Affairs for the Canadian Publishers' Council and Tanya Woods, Legal Counsel, Regulatory and Copyright Law for BCE Inc.

Learn more about this conference.

(Credit: Gregory Varano)

At our Annual General Meeting this March, social-media expert Michael O'Connor Clarke wowed the crowd with an entertaining and informative talk on social media and how creators and publishers can harness its power to build their brand, increase revenues and build their businesses.

Michael's full talk, "The Lunatics Are Taking Over the Asylum: Social Media and Your Personal Brand," is now available online in three parts and is a great resource to anyone interested in getting on social media or trying to get more out of tools such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

Check it out today!

There have some recent developments in the on-going Google Books litigation between Google and several author and publisher associations.

The dispute, which resulted in the Google Books Amended Settlement Agreement that was ultimately rejected by Judge Denny Chin in March 2011, is slated to go to trial this fall.

Since the rejection of the Amended Settlement Agreement, authors and publishers have followed different legal strategies.

Read More... 

Signing up for direct deposit with Access Copyright is an easy and convenient way to ensure you receive your royalties from us right away.

If you haven't signed up with us for direct deposit, here's why you should today.

• It's convenient. Your banking can be hassle-free. No more having to go to the bank and make a deposit. You don't have to worry about lost, stolen or misplaced cheques.
• It's fast. Your money is electronically transferred into your account on time and is available to use instantly once the transfer is complete.
• It's secure. Direct Deposit is more confidential than paper cheques because fewer people are involved in the process.
• It saves money. Access Copyright saves money by printing and mailing fewer cheques. Savings that then passed on to you.  

To sign up for direct deposit, please fill out our Direct Deposit Enrolment Form and return it to us, along with a void cheque, by mail to One Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto ON, M5E 1E5, Attention: Accounting, by fax to 416-868-1621, or scan and email the form back to us at affiliates@accesscopyright.ca.

The application package for this year's Event Grant Program has been released by the Access Copyright Foundation. The application deadline this year is November 1.

Download a copy of the Event Grant application package.

Event grants are available to organizations that support Canadian creativity through events that aim to deepen appreciation and enjoyment of Canadian culture.    

In May and June, fifteen organizations and 35 creators got good news when they learned they would be receiving either a Research or Professional Development Grant from the Access Copyright Foundation. A full list of recipients can be found here.

While government programs cover basic physician and hospital expenses for Canadians, it does not cover hospital stays where ward care is not offered. It doesn't pay for your prescriptions should you get ill or the cost of glasses and getting your eyes checked.

The cost of health care is rising.  People are living longer and people are requiring more care over time and can't meet medical expenses on their own.

You may be healthy today but nobody knows what tomorrow will bring in terms of our health.

You can't put a price on "sleep at night" coverage.

When you have insurance, you help prevent disease because you:

• take prescriptions when you should
• seek medical attention when you need it
• are more proactive in dealing with your health

Don't take a chance with your health - find out more today.

The Writers' Coalition - Benefits you can Afford

• Not-for-profit insurer
• Unbeatable service - we only service artists
• Affordable, comprehensive coverage
• Convenience of a drug/dental card
• Medical is not required to purchase coverage

To enroll in the Writers' Coalition Program today, please visit the program's website.

Access Copyright is a proud member of the Writers' Coalition Program. As an Access Copyright affiliate, you are automatically eligible to join the program.