CMEC Copyright Consortium Pleased with Federal Court of Appeal Decision
TORONTO, February 6, 2017 – The Copyright Consortium of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), is pleased with the Federal Court of Appeal's January 27, 2017, decision in the judicial review of the Copyright Board of Canada's decision setting the 2010–15 Access Copyright tariff for elementary and secondary schools outside of Quebec for the copying of print materials such as books, magazines, and newspapers. In its decision, the court upheld substantially all of the legal arguments the consortium made before the Copyright Board.
The consortium is composed of the ministers of education of all provinces and territories, with the exception of Quebec.
Access Copyright's judicial review application claimed the Copyright Board had made several errors of law when it set the Access Copyright Elementary and Secondary School Tariff, 2010–2015. In its findings, the Federal Court of Appeal decided that the Copyright Board did not, with one limited exception, make any of the errors of law claimed by Access Copyright.
Most importantly, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the Copyright Board's significant finding that a vast majority of the copying in schools is fair, pursuant to the fair-dealing provisions of the Copyright Act.
The Honourable Karen Casey, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development for Nova Scotia and Chair of the CMEC Copyright Consortium, said, “Ministries of education and school boards take the importance of copyright compliance in our schools very seriously. So, it is reassuring to receive the Federal Court of Appeal decision, which legitimizes the copyright practices of our teachers and school staff.”
Members of the consortium will be assessing the full implications of the Federal Court of Appeal's decision in the coming weeks.
Details of the CMEC Copyright Consortium's position on copyright can be found at http://cmec.ca/139/Programs-and-Initiatives/Copyright/Overview/index.html.
About CMEC
Founded in 1967, CMEC is the collective voice of Canada's ministers of education. It provides leadership in education at the pan-Canadian and international levels and contributes to the exercise of the exclusive jurisdiction of provinces and territories over education. For more information, visit us at www.cmec.ca.
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Information
Colin Bailey
Director, Communications
CMEC
Cell: 437-777-4879
Tel.: 416-962-8100, ext. 259
E-mail: c.bailey@cmec.ca
Twitter: @CCMEC