Australian Coursepack Case: An Update

As reported in ARL 178 (January 1995, p.  5), Australian research
universities won the first round of a coursepack case against Australian
publishers and their licensing agency, Copyright Agency Limited (CAL)
last fall.  Production of anthologies or coursepacks was permitted to
resume provided they were made for use in a particular course and that
universities could levy charges only to recovery costs. 

CAL filed an appeal but lost on February 28, 1995.  The full bench of
the Federal Court upheld the earlier decision of Justice Gummow. 
Essentially, the ruling confirms that Australian universities can
continue to produce anthologies or compilations of materials from
different sources and sell them to students with the following two very
important provisos:

*	Copies must be made solely for the
	educational purposes of the institution.  

* 	Anthologies or compilations must not be sold for
	profit.  Universities must be able to show
	clearly that any charges are to cover costs of 	
	production only.

The judge rejected the publishers' argument that the activity of the
university could be characterized as "a business of book selling or
quasi publishing." He held that the university had not had the objective
or purpose of making a profit and that it was legitimate to set a price
designed to cover costs, including some indirect costs. 

Universities in Australia are therefore advised to demonstrate that the
university's purpose, in making and selling books of readings, is not to
make a profit.  It is suggested that the university issue clear
instructions to staff on the calculation of the price to be charged to
students for such books, and that appropriate accounting procedures
relating to that calculation are included in its "Policy and Procedures"
manual. 

In this particular case, Copyright Agency Limited v.  Victoria
University of Technology, the on-campus bookshop was owned and operated
by the university.  In situations where the university does not operate
or control its on-campus bookshop, it should allow books of readings to
be sold at that bookshop only if the mark- up is for recovery costs of
displaying and selling the material.  If the university cannot control
the price of that material in the bookshop then there will be a risk
that the price will be calculated to include a profit element which will
result in copyright infringement. 

- Information provided by Edward Lim, University Librarian, Monash
University, Melbourne, Australia. 


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ARL 181
A Bimonthly Newsletter of Research Library Issues and Actions
Association of Research Libraries
August 1995