Access...an e-newsletter for Member Organizations 

March 2013   

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Earlier this month, Access Copyright released a green paper, "The Next Chapter," to announce the beginning of a renewal process and a contemplation of changes happening all around us. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to distribute the paper to your Board members and to share your thoughts on the green paper by completing our response survey.

The green paper is the launch pad for the themes and ideas to be discussed at The Next Chapter: Summit 2013 on Thursday, April 25 in Toronto starting at 9:00 a.m.

We encourage all of our member organizations to invite two delegates to attend the day-long Summit. Our Annual General Meeting will take place the following day on April 26 starting at 9:30 a.m. Both of your Summit delegates are welcome to take in our AGM, although you can only appoint one voting delegate to represent your organization at the AGM.

Earlier this month, we sent along a mailing containing information on the Summit and AGM, along with some forms to fill out and return to us by Tuesday, April 2.  

Both events will take place at the Courtyard by Marriott, located at 475 Yonge Street in Toronto.

If you have any questions about the Summit or the AGM, please contact our Communications department.

Ninety-one percent of Access Copyright affiliates reported that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with Payback in a fall 2012 satisfaction survey on the annual payment, which is an eight percent increase from the results of last year's survey.

The survey, which measured our affiliates' satisfaction with all aspects of the annual Payback payment, saw an increase in our affiliates' satisfaction level with every part of the process, including their dealings with our staff, the online payment claim process and their overall satisfaction with Payback.

The survey showed substantial increases in our affiliates' satisfaction with the fairness of Payback and with the payment they received last year.

When our affiliates were asked about our staff and the customer service they provide throughout the Payback claim process, the satisfaction scores were among the highest received on the survey. Our staff works hard every year to help our affiliates to complete their Payback claims and we are pleased that survey respondents affirmed that our staff are courteous, effective and ensure that they provide the answers that our affiliates need.  

All affiliates who received a Payback payment from us last year were invited to fill out this survey. Over 9,000 affiliates were eligible to take part and we had a survey response rate of 32%.

This is the second year that we have conducted a satisfaction survey on Payback.

The results of the survey are available on our website.

Last fall, Access Copyright conducted a survey to determine the amount or percentage of royalties that publishers distribute to unaffiliated creators.  

The results of the survey indicate that 33.4%, or just over $2.4 million, of the total amount of royalties paid to affiliated publishers (just over $7.3 million) were subsequently passed along to non-affiliated creators in 2011.  

When factoring in the amount of royalties that we distribute directly to Canadian creator affiliates, including the annual Payback payment in 2011, 43% of royalties were distributed to creators and 57% of royalties were distributed to publishers.

All publisher affiliates who received more than $200 from us in 2011 in title-specific royalties to pass along to unaffiliated creators received an invitation to fill out our survey. We had a survey response rate of 84%.

The results of the survey are available on our website.

In 2012, Access Copyright distributed $60,042,298 to creators and publishers, a significant increase from the $23,540,374 that was distributed in 2011.

This increase was due to a number of one-time only events that will not happen again in 2013.

Ninety percent of the royalties withheld in trust under the 2005-2009 K-12 Tariff were distributed in the fall of 2012 as only a small portion of the K-12 Tariff remained subject to review by the Copyright Board of Canada after the Supreme Court of Canada decision. Almost $29.3 million of these royalties were distributed to rightsholders with the majority distributed according to our title-specific K-12 distribution model.  

Six-and-a-half million dollars was set aside by the Access Copyright Board of Directors for a special, one-time payment to be shared amongst creator and publisher affiliates in recognition that the cost of the K-12 Tariff was borne by all affiliates.  

There was also a marked increase in full-reporting royalties distributed last year due to improved efforts by Access Copyright staff to match undistributed royalties to the creators and publishers for whom these royalties were meant.

As well, there was an increase in distributed royalties collected from our corporate licensees.

On January 18, 2013, the Copyright Board of Canada issued its redetermination on the rate for the Access Copyright Elementary and Secondary School Tariff, 2005-2009 as a result of the Supreme Court of Canada decision from July 2012 and a dispute over the tests and exams exception in the Copyright Act.  

The Copyright Board released a favourable decision on the tests and exams issue. The final K-12 Tariff 2005-2009 rate is re-certified by the Copyright Board at $4.81 per Full-Time Equivalent student. The full decision from the Copyright Board can be found here: http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/decisions/2013/Access-Redetermination-18-01-2013.pdf.

Our Education Licensing Development team, which works extensively with the K-12 and post-secondary sectors, has done a great deal of outreach with the K-12 and post-secondary communities in January and February.

Efforts have included attending the Ontario Library Association Super Conference 2013, Reading for the Love of It 2013 and the Greater Edmonton Teachers' Convention. At each conference, the department had the opportunity to meet with K-12 teachers and librarians and to discuss the value of our services to elementary and secondary schools across Canada.  

They have also had meetings with several universities across Canada, including Nipissing University, the University of Alberta and King's University College, as well as presented to Faculty of Education students at Charles Stuart University and Tyndale University College.

Want to keep up-to-date on what's going on at Access Copyright and on important issues such as copyright, culture and reading? Check us out on Twitter and become part of the conversation by following us @AccessCopyright .

Here's a sample of what you'll find on our Twitter feed:

• January 23: @jkdegen talked copyright on Canadian campuses this morning on CKUT, McGill's campus radio station http://tinyurl.com/aeqyynx 
• February 6: @Freedom_to_Read week is less than three weeks away. Here are some ways you can get involved http://www.freedomtoread.ca/get-involved/ 
• February 8: 'Seven Copyright Principles for the Digital Era' http://brookin.gs/ChqG via @BrookingsInst 
• March 13: AC's own Rob Weisberg will be part of @SLAToronto's Day in the Life of an Info Professional on March 20 http://tinyurl.com/aledf9l
• March 26: April is National Poetry Month! Check out @canadianpoets for the many events planned for #NPM2013 http://tinyurl.com/cbpvx62

Join over 1,300 others and follow us on Twitter today!

The Access Copyright Foundation is currently accepting applications for Professional Development Grants. The deadline for applications is April 1.  

Download the Foundation's Professional Development Grants application package.

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Please send along your thoughts and feedback on our e-newsletter to us anytime at editor@accesscopyright.ca.