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AC in Damage Control if not Retreat Mode

By Howard Knopf, Esq.

Here?s a very interesting email from AC?s new lawyer, Randall Hofley, who replaces Barry Sookman. Note the following rather remarkable concession letting those who have asked off the hook regarding the controversial ?interim agreement? that even AUCC recommended against. I have repeatedly indicated that it conveys no rights and amounts to a blank cheque for years to come. So why would anyone sign it? It appears that several institutions have figured this out.

Note also that AC had previously erroneously indicated that certain parties had signed the interim agreement. One wonders whether this "error" induced others to sign as well.

AC seems to be going into damage control if not retreat mode.

Here?s an excerpt from the email below:

In addition, some of the institutions that had initially signed the interim agreement subsequently advised that they had signed the agreement in error. Access Copyright has agreed to treat those institutions? agreements as null and void, and we have removed those institutions from Appendix A.1.

HK

From: "HOFLEY, RANDALL" <RANDALL.HOFLEY@blakes.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:20:11 -0500
To: "Gilles.McDougall@cb-cda.gc.ca" <Gilles.McDougall@cb-cda.gc.ca>,

[other email addresses omitted]

Subject: RE: Access Copyright Post-Secondary Educational Institutions Tariff (2011-2013)

Dear Mr. McDougall,

As directed by the Copyright Board in its Notice of November 26, 2010, below, we set out below our reply to the Board?s request for "the precise amounts that, in [Access Copyright's] view, are payable by the targeted institutions and ought to be included in section 14 of the model licence (or any other provision where such figures may be relevant) if the Board were to issue an interim decision as requested." Access Copyright requests that the institutions targeted in its application of October 13, 2010 pay the following amounts if the Board were to issue an interim decision:

(i) section 14(a)(iv) -- the FTE multiplied by $3.38;

(ii) section 14(b)(iv) ? Except for newspapers (see section 14(d)), $0.10 for each page or printed sheet copied for use in a coursepack. (This section references section 2(b) of the model licence which refers to the ?coursepacks? that are created and sold by the institutions.);

(iii) section 14(c) ? a maximum of $10.00 for each out of print work copied; and

(iv) section 14(d) -- $0.05 for each page or printed sheet of newspaper that is included in a coursepack.

These are the amounts that the targeted institutions have historically paid to Access Copyright.

Since Access Copyright filed its application on October 13, 2010, Appendices A and A.1 have been updated. Some of the institutions were mistakenly included on Appendix A.1 as having signed the interim agreement. At the time Access Copyright discovered this error, we wrote directly to those institutions to advise them that they would be affected by the application. A sample of that correspondence is attached. Also, since Access Copyright filed the application with the Copyright Board, some institutions have now signed the interim agreement. They have therefore been added to Appendix A. 1. In addition, some of the institutions that had initially signed the interim agreement subsequently advised that they had signed the agreement in error. Access Copyright has agreed to treat those institutions? agreements as null and void, and we have removed those institutions from Appendix A.1. Some typos have also been corrected. Attached is a revised Appendix A and A.1, along with a blackline to the appendices originally filed with the Board, that highlights these changes.

We trust this is satisfactory for the Board's purposes - please let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Randall

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Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Barristers & Solicitors
Patent & Trade-mark Agents
45 O'Connor Street
Suite 2000, World Exchange Plaza
Ottawa ON K1P 1A4 Canada
Tel: 613-788-2200 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              613-788-2200      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Full post as published by Excess Copyright on December 01, 2010 (boomark / email).