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Copyright licensing: Notice

On 13 December 2001 the Copyright Tribunal, in a ruling (interim decision) which involved a review of the terms of the photocopying licence between Universities UK and the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited (CLA), ordered the following:

1. the photocopying fee paid to the CLA under the Current Licence by universities per full-time equivalent student (FTES) will increase from its present fee of £3.35 to £4.00, increasing in line with the increase in the RPI on an annual basis on 1 August of each year;
2. the CLA Rapid Clearance Service (CLARCS) is to be removed from the Current Licence and the photocopying of materials for 'course packs' provided to support a course of study is to be included in the Current Licence fee;
3. the Current Licence fee will include the right to copy all artistic works; and
4. the new scheme will operate for five years, backdated to commence on 1 August 2001 and will apply to all HEIs through their individual licence agreements with the CLA.

The Copyright Tribunal decision can be found at http://www.patent.gov.uk/copy/tribunal/tribnews4.htm.

The CLA Licence deals with the making and distribution of multiple copies of copyright materials for teaching purposes. Members of the University are reminded that the Copyright Tribunal's ruling does not affect the limits on the extent of photocopying made for the purposes of providing materials for any one course, which cannot exceed 5% of any published edition or

(a) in the case of a book - one whole chapter;
(b) in the case of a periodical - one whole article;
(c) in the case of an anthology of short stories or poems, one short story or poem not exceeding ten pages in length; and
(d) in the case of law reports, the entire report of a single case.

The CLA Licence does not affect the right to make single copies for the purposes of research or private study or other specified purposes under the fair dealing provisions (Sections 29 and 30) of the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. The amount that may be copied is not specified in the Act, but it is generally accepted that the above-noted limits should not be exceeded.

University Faculties and Departments who have used the CLARCS scheme will be given rebates for course packs compiled and paid for from 1 August 2001 to date. The University's Copyright Officer will inform the users as soon as the CLA issues rebates in accordance with the Copyright Tribunal's ruling. In the interim, any queries or requests for further information may be directed to Ted Krawec, Copyright Officer (tel. 01223 766842, e-mail ted.krawec@rsd.cam.ac.uk).


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Cambridge University Reporter 16 January 2002
Copyright © 2002 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.