McNally Robinson Booksellers, an independent bookstore in Winnipeg, pictured on Nov. 28, 2021.Tim Smith/The Globe and Mail
Access Copyright, a non-profit that distributes royalties to authors, visual artists and publishers in Canada for the use of their works by schools, businesses and governments, said Thursday it was downsizing after more than a decade of what it has described as dwindling royalty income as a result of 2012 copyright reforms.
The non-profit licenses books and other creative works to those organizations, but has maintained for years that the 2012 changes, which expanded the definition of how people can use copyrighted materials without being accused of infringement, reduced the amount of royalties it collects. It uses part of those royalties to pay for overhead costs.
The changes were made under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. The federal Liberals have since promised their own Copyright Act reforms, but have not yet explicitly addressed Access Copyright’s concerns, the non-profit said in a statement on Thursday.
The vast majority of authors don’t make a living off books alone, and Canada’s relatively small size means its creators often make less than those in major markets, such as the United States – meaning additional licensing income is often crucial to both creators and their publishers. Access Copyright is one service that seeks to provide these additional income streams.
Access Copyright said in its most recent annual report that it distributed $6.4-million to rightsholders in 2022 and had $6.1-million in expenses.
Beyond the use of books and other works by schools and other organizations, Access Copyright also licenses works to public libraries, so they can allow photocopies of individual book chapters, newspaper articles, short stories, plays and essays.
Access Copyright said in its statement that Canadian creators and publishers “have been deprived of over $200 million in unpaid royalties.” It said that “mass, systemic free copying” of works – outside of Quebec, which has a separate system – had caused its total royalty distributions to fall by 79 per cent.
It did not immediately respond to questions about how much it would be downsizing.
In a news release, Writers’ Union of Canada chief executive John Degen called on Ottawa to intervene. “The government has promised to fix the gaps in the Act many times, but we are still waiting for meaningful change,” he said. “In the meantime, a key market has disappeared and, with it, countless Canadian stories.”
But critics, including internet-law expert Michael Geist, have argued that Access Copyright’s push for copyright changes since the 2012 reforms has been misleading.
“While Access Copyright is quick to blame the government, the reality is that its copyright licence offers relatively little value in the market, given the many digital alternatives,” he told The Globe.
“Education has made massive investments in licensing over the past decade as it transitions to digital, and the Access Copyright licence no longer provided sufficient value for the scarce education dollars. That means there is payment for works, but just not through the intermediary that is Access Copyright.”
Copyright policy is jointly overseen by the federal Heritage and Industry departments. “Our government is committed to ensuring that the Copyright Act protects all creators and copyright holders, and is reflective of modern realities and the digital world,” said Laurie Bouchard, director of communications for Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
“We continue to engage stakeholders, creators, and copyright holders, in particular to ensure a sustainable educational publishing industry and a modern and innovative marketplace that can efficiently serve copyright users.”