Excluded bodies in copying protest

A second wave of complaints about photocopying licensing hit the Copyright Licensing Agency as it delivered its new agreement for higher education this week.

Independent organisations not represented by Universities UK are protesting that December's copyright tribunal ruling should also apply to them.

The tribunal ruled that separate charges for copying for course packs should be scrapped and that royalties (now to include artistic works) should be set at £4 per full-time student.

But the ruling applies only to members of UUK and the Standing Conference of Principals, which supported the UUK case.

Other organisations such as professional bodies, medical or research institutions and private colleges in areas such as the fine and performing arts or theology have found they are still expected to pay for course-pack copying.

Lucia Asnaghi, librarian for the British Association of Psychotherapists, said: "I have been told by the CLA that our organisation is not touched by this ruling because it is an 'independent' higher education organisation and not a university, and therefore we must continue to pay for student packs."

A spokesman for the CLA said: "The tribunal decision only relates to the licence negotiated between the CLA and UUK on behalf of its own and Scop members."

The CLA this week delivered the new licence agreement for higher education to UUK.

UUK is due to respond with amendments by January 30, after which a date will be set to agree costs. The licence will be backdated to August 1 2001.

Meanwhile, the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society is planning to release the royalties it was withholding by the end of March.