Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC)/Cancopy Press Release, November 2, 1999
| Toronto, November 2, 1999 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
NEW COPYRIGHT AGREEMENT BENEFITS SCHOOLS
Education ministers and representatives of CANCOPY announced today that they have concluded a licensing agreement to cover photocopying in schools. The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) negotiated the licence on behalf of all provinces and territories except Quebec with CANCOPY, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.
"For the first time, there will be a common copying licence for elementary and secondary schools," said the Honourable Elvy Robichaud, New Brunswick’s Minister of Education, representing CMEC. In the past, licences for photocopying in public schools have been negotiated with each jurisdiction separately, resulting in different terms and conditions.
"By working together on this licence, provinces and territories have been able to negotiate better conditions and costs than if they had acted separately," stated Mr. Robichaud. "We have achieved our goal of giving teachers more flexibility, allowing them to seize the "teachable moment" without fear of infringing the law."
An important feature of the agreement is that the five-year licence will enable participating provinces and territories to predict their costs. "This agreement is also of great benefit to creators and publishers," declared Gary Rodrigues, publisher, writer, and co-chair of CANCOPY’s Board of Directors. "It ensures that, for the next five years, they will be paid for copying of their work in schools, which is their right under copyright law."
"The move to a single agreement with all regions will yield a range of new efficiencies to better reward Canadian creators and rights holders," said Fred Wardle, CANCOPY’s Executive Director. "The negotiations have also produced an important companion agreement on bibliographic sampling, which will enable CANCOPY to direct royalties to those whose works are actually copied in schools."
CMEC is an intergovernmental body made up of the ministers of education and advanced education from the provinces and territories. Through CMEC, ministers share information and undertake projects in areas of mutual interest and concern.
CANCOPY is a non-profit organization that represents the rights of creators and publishers, both Canadian and foreign, for copying of their work. CANCOPY licences organizations and individuals wishing to copy copyright-protected works, and distributes the resulting royalties to creators and publishers. Canadian educational institutions, corporations, federal and provincial governments, public libraries, and non-profit organizations are signing CANCOPY licences as a convenient way to abide by Canada’s copyright laws.
| For information: | |
| Lara Inglis CMEC Secretariat Tel.: 416-964-2551, ext. 256 E-mail: lara@cmec.ca Web Site: http://www.cmec.ca |
Diana Barry CANCOPY Tel.: 416-868-1620 E-Mail: dbarry@cancopy.com Web Site: http://www.accesscopyright.ca/ |