Everyone’s heard professors complain about student plagiarism. Yet some U of T professors are using pirated material when they create their own course readers.
“I’ll be very honest with you,” one professor told The Varsity when asked how she prepares her course readers, “I just drop my materials at a small copy shop near campus and let them worry about clearing the rights.” Apparently, a number of U of T profs share this policy.
But the owners of most of the small copy shops around U of T say that if professors want copyrights cleared, they need to say so. “We can’t be expected to read everything that we’re asked to copy,” says the owner of a copy shop west of U of T campus, “And since not everything we copy is copyrighted, it’s the professors’ responsibility to tell us what needs to be cleared. Otherwise, we’ll just copy.”
According to the Copyright Act of Canada, royalty fees must be paid for each copy made for sale of copyrighted materials such as chapters from books, and articles from magazines, newspapers and journals. Even when fees are paid, the general limit on copying for sale is 15 per cent of a work. If a work is out of print, it may be copied in its entirety, but fees must still be paid.
Under the Copyright Act of Canada, all parties involved could be charged with infringement if copyrights are not cleared. Penalties include fines and even imprisonment. In the case of professors who do not instruct copy shops to clear copyrights, either the professor, the copy shop, or both could be liable.
Warren Sheffer at Access Copyright, Canada’s copyright licensing agency, says that “any person is liable for copyright infringement if he/she/it does without consent what only the copyright owner can do.”
Paul Herbert, a copyright and patent lawyer at Riches, McKenzie and Herbert, says that a copy shop would usually only be sued if it “induces” its customers to not clear copyrights. Under normal circumstances, Mr. Herbert explains, the prof would be sued, and the copy shop owner would be considered only an agent to the crime.
Mr. Herbert points out that professors rarely get in trouble for their illegal copying. Journals and publishers are hesitant to press charges against professors because, Mr. Herbert says, “you don’t sue your customers.” Publishers make the business decision to turn a blind eye when professors don’t clear copyrights.
Chris MaGee, manager of Custom Courseware at the U of T Press, calls the production of illegal course readers an “ongoing problem” at U of T. According to Mr. MaGee, when professors choose the U of T Press, they are guaranteed that their materials will be copied legally. Custom Courseware clears 100 per cent of the copyrights for materials that they print in course readers. “We can’t afford not to,” Mr. MaGee says, “The currency of our institution is intellectual property.” Mr. MaGee concedes that rights fees can be very high, but he argues that authors deserve proper credit and monetary reimbursement for their hard work, on ethical grounds.
Mr. MaGee works to encourage profs to print course readers through the U of T Press, and to educate U of T faculty about copyright protection. But Mr. Magee recognizes that sometimes professors choose to take their business elsewhere, where copyright laws may or may not be followed.
Most professors who print course readers through small copy shops around campus do so for reasons of convenience. The owner of one small copy shop says, “Profs come to us when they want something printed quickly.” The professors who spoke to The Varsity agree.
According to Professor Glen Loney, registrar of University College, copyright infractions among U of T faculty were much more rampant 15 years ago. Since then, Professor Loney explains, copyright laws have become more widely known, and the university has made it clear that it expects faculty to comply. Professor Loney says that since most U of T faculty are productive scholars, they recognize that it is in their own best interests to carefully comply with copyright laws.
Professor Gopal Sreenivasan at the Department of Philosophy has a different perspective. Professor Sreenivasan is very careful to abide by copyright laws for the classes he teaches, but he says that he probably wouldn’t mind if he knew that articles he has published were being reproduced illegally. Professor Derek Penslar at the Department of History, who is also scrupulous about copyright laws for his own classes, adds that he would be happy to hear that students at a different university were photocopying his book: “I wrote the book to disseminate ideas…I would gladly give up the royalties.”
Many U of T students of the Napster and Kazaa generation are accustomed to copyright violations. They are happy to save money, rather than pay for royalties. But not all students agree. One student told The Varsity, “This is different from students breaking copyright laws. This is part of the system. My professor is forcing me to buy something illegal.”
