On April 22, 2020, the Federal Court of Appeal released a
long-awaited decision in the ongoing dispute between York
University and Access Copyright – a dispute that has turned
into an epic copyright battle. In a nutshell, the case overall
represents a major win for York University, although it suffered a
partial loss since it was unable to convince the Court of Appeal
that its ⦥uro;SFair Dealing
Guidelines⦥uro; were fair for the purposes of
copyright law.
Background:
Access Copyright is a collective society which administers the
reproduction rights in published books, and other literary works,
collects royalties, and distributes them to the copyright
owners.
York University is one of Canada's largest universities.
Over time, York University became a proxy for a broad coalition of
those wishing to challenge the scope of Access Copyright's
tariffs, including Universities Canada, the Canadian Association of
University Teachers, and the Canadian Federation of
