McMaster opts out of Access Copyright license


McMaster University is one of several Canadian universities ending its licence agreement with Access Copyright, a copyright collective that provides licences to make copies from print and digital works such as books, magazines, newspapers and journals.

McMaster’s current licence expires on December 31, 2015. The final decision was made by the Provost and Vice-President Academic, in consultation with McMaster’s Copyright Advisory Group, legal counsel, the University Library and other McMaster stakeholders.

The University will continue its commitment to copyright compliance, which is an ongoing legal duty and an integral component of academic integrity. Over the coming weeks, more information will be released around newly developed internal resources which will become available to assist staff and faculty with clearing necessary copyright permissions, to ensure all are aware of their rights and responsibilities under the University’s Fair Dealing Policy and the Copyright Modernization Act. (Bill C-11).

It is particularly important that instructors preparing coursepacks for the Winter 2016 term submit their coursepack as soon as possible, since it may take longer to obtain copyright permissions during this transition period.

To ensure your coursepack is available for the first week of class, please aim to submit your material by December 1st to Linda Colarusso at mailto:colarus@mcmaster.ca.

More information can be found at http://copyright.mcmaster.ca. Questions can be sent to copyright@mcmaster.ca.