Digital Reading Lists
21 The Tribunal has not yet determined a rate for digital copying or communicating. The bulk of digital copying and communicating happens through digital reading lists. The previous hardcopy course-pack rate was 5 cents per page. In my view, there are a number of advantages which digital reading lists have over course-packs. First, because they are not limited in physical size, they may be much larger than course-packs. Secondly, they are portable since they are able to be used wherever a student uses a device to access them. Thirdly, where a student downloads the material, it may be permanently stored as opposed to a course-pack, which as a physical item, is likely to have a less definite future. Fourthly, the quality of the copying is superior. Fifthly, the material may be manipulated in ways which are more extensive than can be done with a course-pack. For example, detailed marginal notes may be made and, if the materials are in a searchable format, they may be searched. Sixthly, in the same situation text may be copied from such a work, perhaps for quotation in an essay. These matters persuade me that the amenity of digital reading lists substantially exceeds that of a course-pack. The decline of the latter and the rise of the former is consistent with that observation. Consequently, I will fix the rate for digital copying and communicating at 5.5 cents per page. Indexed by the CPI in 2019, this is 9.3 cents per page.
22 Until now, the EUS has treated each work on a digital reading list as having been communicated to every member of the course to whom that list relates. CAL submits that this status quo should be maintained. The Universities submit that the evidence shows that not all students access the materials on digital reading lists. They suggest that the Tribunal should proceed on the basis that 20% of students actually access the works linked in the digital reading lists.
23 Section 113P(1) of the Act provides a defence to an infringement action if the statutory licence is engaged. This directs attention to the right infringed which, relevantly, is the right to communicate a work to the public: s 31(1)(a)(iv). The 'public', that is 'the copyright owner's public', involved is the body of students to whom a digital reading list is made available: Telstra Corporation Limited v Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd (1997) 191 CLR 140 at 157. A work will be communicated to the relevant public either by making it available online or by electronically transmitting it to individual members of the course: s 10 definition of 'communicate'. The rights conferred by Pt IVA of the Act on the Universities consist of an entitlement to do these two sets of acts without being sued for infringement.
24 In assessing equitable remuneration it is appropriate to take account of both sets of rights.
25 The Universities derive considerable amenity from the use of the right to make the works available online. This amenity includes: (a) being able to communicate works to students without having to contact them directly; (b) being able to update reading lists without having to engage in fresh direct acts of electronic communication (e.g. email); and (c) being able to provide to their students the considerable facility of a digital reading list.
26 The Universities also derive amenity from the electronic transmission to students of the work after a student clicks on a link in a digital reading list. It is true that the student derives amenity from this too, but the Universities derive their amenity in being able to offer such a service to their students. However, this is, in substance, the same amenity which arises in relation to the right to make the works available online which I have considered above at (c). It should not be counted twice.
27 CAL submitted that it should be remunerated on the basis that each work on a digital reading list is treated as having been communicated to as many students as there were in each course, i.e. at a rate of 100% of the students in the course. The Universities said that CAL should be remunerated on the basis that the works were communicated to 20% of the students in each course. This was on the basis of evidence which suggested that not all students in fact accessed the works on the digital reading lists. Although I did not find Mr Velez's evidence about this persuasive from a quantification perspective (and it was not suggested that I should), I do accept that it is likely that a good number students never do the readings for their courses. This is not a new phenomenon.
28 In any event, the two sets of rights should be valued in tandem since they are interrelated. The interrelationship is partial only, however. Where a work is downloaded from an online location, each electronic transmission of the work will necessarily be preceded by the act of making the work available online. The converse, however, is not true: electronic transmission of a work may occur without an antecedent act of making the work available online as, for example, occurs where a work is sent by one person to another by email. In such cases, however, there is less likely to be an act of communication 'to the public' within the meaning of s 31(1)(a)(iv): Woolworths Ltd v Olson [2004] NSWSC 849; 184 FLR 121 at [337]. This outcome will, of course, depend on the particular factual circumstances of each case and generalities may be dangerous. For example, an academic who emails a work to a class is likely to have communicated it to the public within the meaning of s 31(1)(a)(iv) in light of the way the concept of the relevant public has been approached (as discussed above).
29 In the case of the Universities (but perhaps not in every case), the value of both rights may be seen in some ways as being related to the number of students. I think it therefore appropriate to fix the equitable remuneration by reference to a percentage of the number of students in a class. In doing so, I accept that some of the amenities I have identified as flowing to the Universities, from the entitlement under the first limb of the communication right to use digital reading lists, are, in a sense, somewhat difficult to measure. I also accept that it is important to avoid double compensation arising from the overlap between the right to make a work available online and the subsequent electronic transmission of that work as a result of its having been made available in the first place.
30 I have concluded that an appropriate figure is 75% of the students in each class. This recognises the amenities derived by the Universities I have identified above, whilst providing for some discount to reflect the likely import of the tentative discoveries of Mr Velez. It also seeks to accord meaningful value to the right to make a work available online.
31 Consequently, the equitable remuneration in relation to digital reading lists should be calculated on the basis that the statutory licence works on them are communicated to 75% of the students in a course. CAL should therefore be remunerated at a rate of 9.3 cents per page on 244,312,200 pages (75% of 90% of the total number of pages copied and communicated in 2019) which is $22,721,034.60.
32 This results in a base remuneration of $25,471,809.00 for both hardcopy and digital use. Before passing on from this topic, the position of the individual copy which is made for uploading should be noted. Where a work exists in hardcopy, the process of placing it on an electronic reading list involves the making of an initial digital copy. This is a 'reproduction' of the work under s 31(1)(a)(i) of the Act and is therefore a remunerable copy. However, in many cases, where a work is placed on an electronic reading list, the copy has already been made. On the scheme of the issues in this case, the role of these individual copies is de minimis. I do not think it is appropriate to adjust these figures further to take account of them.