Legal challenge to update fees for university copyright licence

The Copyright Agency, Australia’s main copyright protection organisation, is taking legal action against Universities Australia over a new licensing agreement for educational content.

In an email to its 40,000 members, the agency said it had lodged an action with the Copyright Tribunal after a breakdown in negotiations with Universities Australia, which represents the vice-chancellors of 39 universities, over an updated licensing agreement for 2019 onwards.

Adam Suckling (above), the agency’s chief executive, said the annual cost of the UA licence was “currently $32.5 million, or 9 cents per student per day”. In 2016, it represented only 0.11 per cent of the $28.6 billion spent by Australian universities, he said.