Updated: May 21, 2019

This is a 2019 update to the last post from February 2016. It’s been nearly two years since the Federal Court handed down its decision in Access Copyright v. York University (July 12, 2017), ruling that York must pay royalties for its use of copyrighted materials, and that the school’s fair dealing guidelines were neither reliable nor representative of the fair dealing exception. York have appealed the decision to the Federal Court of Appeals, which heard arguments on March 5 and 6, 2019.

While the decision only applies to York, other Canadian universities have been paying close attention. One might expect that schools would flock (back) to Access Copyright to save themselves from a similar lawsuit, but it looks like that hasn’t been the case. No university has entered into an Access Copyright license that was not already subscribing to the service. A few – Dalhousie, Lakehead, Regina, and Trent – did not renew their licenses that in 2016.

Overall, the proportion of universities that do not have a blanket license with Access Copyright increased from 37.5% in 2015, to (at least) 57.8% in 2016, to 76.2% in 2019. Conversely, the proportion of universities that have entered into a license decreased from 59.4% in 2015 to 19% in 2019.

Where are we in 2019?

	2015	2016	2019
ACADIA	yes	?	no	Link
ALBERTA	yes	no	no	Link
ALGOMA	yes	?	yes	Link
ATHABASCA	no	no	no	Link
BRANDON	yes	?	yes?	Link
BROCK	yes	no	no	Link
CALGARY	no	no	no	Link (pdf)
CARLETON	no	no	no	Link
CDN MENNONITE	yes	?	no?	Link
CONCORDIA (AB)	yes	?	no?	Link (pdf)
DALHOUSIE	yes	yes	no	Link
DOMINICAN	?	?	?	Link
EMILY CARR	yes	?	yes	Link
GUELPH	no	no	no	Link
KINGS U (AB)	yes	?	yes	Link
KWANTLEN	no	no	no	Link
LAKEHEAD	yes	yes	no	Link
LAURENTIAN	yes	yes	yes	Link
LAURIER	yes	yes	yes	Link
LETHBRIDGE	yes	no	no	Link
MacEWAN	no	no	no	Link
MANITOBA	yes	no	no	Link
McMASTER	yes	no	no	Link
MEMORIAL	no	no	no	Link
MONCTON	yes	yes	yes	Link
MT ALLISON	yes	no	no	Link
MT ROYAL	no	no	no	Link
MT ST VINCENT	yes	no	no	Link
NIPISSING	yes	?	no	Link
NS AGRICULTURAL	yes	? see DAL	see DAL
NSCAD	?	no	no	Link
OCAD	yes	?	yes	Link
OTTAWA	yes	no	no	Link
QUEENS	no	no	no	Link
REDEEMER	yes	?	yes	Link
REGINA	yes	yes	no	Link
RMC	yes	?	yes	Link
ROYAL ROADS	no	no	no	Link
RYERSON	yes	no	no	Link
SASKATCHEWAN	no	no	no	Link
SFU	no	no	no	Link
St FRANCIS X	yes	no	no	Link
St MARYS	yes	no	no	Link
St THOMAS	yes	?	no?	Link (pdf)
THOMPSON RIVERS	yes	no	no	Link
TORONTO	no	no	no	Link
TRENT	no	yes?	no?	Link
TRINITY WESTERN	yes	yes?	yes	Link
U de St-BONIFACE	yes	?	?	Link
U KING’S COLLEGE (NS)	yes	?	?	Link
U Ste-ANNE	yes	?	no	Link
UBC	no	no	no	Link
UFV	no	no	no	Link
UNB	no	no	no	Link
UNBC	no	no	no	Link
UOIT	yes	?	no	Link
UPEI	no	no	no	Link
VAN ISLAND	yes	yes	yes	Link
VICTORIA	yes	no	no	Link
WATERLOO	no	no	no	Link
WESTERN	no	no	no	Link
WINDSOR	no	no	no	Link
WINNIPEG	no	no	no	Link
YORK	no	no	no	Link
Total	64	64	63
Total NO	24 (37.5%)	37 (57.8%)	48 (76.2%)
Total YES	38 (59.4%)	9 (14.1%)	12 (19%)
Total UNKNOWN	2 (3.1%)	18 (28.1%)	3 (4.8%)