Copyright prices go wrong direction

By Emily Senger

Students across the country will need to stretch the budget a little more for course materials this fall.

Access, the Canadian copyright licensing agency, has upped its copyright royalties from 8.7 cents per page to 10 cents per page, as of Sept. 1.

The change will be reflected in the price of all photocopied materials including course packs and lab manuals, according to University of Calgary copyright officer Wendy Stephen.

“On a 200 page course pack, it will be another $2.60,” said Stephen.

Stephen emphasized the U of C cannot control the price of its course packages, so students should place their blame elsewhere.

“It’s a common license for every post-secondary institution in Canada from the University of Lethbridge to Toronto,” said Stephen. “But what happens is the poor people at the bookstore get inundated with crabby people.”

Access–a not-for-profit collective of publishers and creators–sells licenses to schools across the country. Stephen predicts copyright royalties will increase again next September when the license is renewed.

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