I had never heard of the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) until today when they surprised me with some happy news.
CAL sent me an email and left a phone message saying they wanted to pay me some money!
Like most people I’m suspicious of emails like that, and because I received the email before hearing the phone message, I almost sent it straight to the spam folder.
There were some links in the email to confirm bonafides, but I was suspicious of them and entered the addresses manually.
CAL is an Australian copyright management company whose role is to provide a bridge between creators and users of copyright material. CAL represents authors, journalists, visual artists, surveyors, photographers and newspaper, magazine and book publishers as their non-exclusive agent to license the copying of their works to the general community.
Everything looked legitimate, so I went ahead and provided my details, and followed up later with a phone call.
It turns out I’m entitled to $259 because a school made hard copies of my blog article on daylight saving in WA, presumably for study materials.
That’s marvellous. Not so much the money (which is sweet), but the fact something I’ve written has been used as a resource in a school.
It’s also great to know a not-for-profit organisation like CAL exists. They “have distributed over $500 million since 1989 and now represent the reproduction and communication rights of thousands of Australian authors, journalists, visual artists, surveyors, photographers and publishers”.
“CAL collects licence fees from organisations that copy, such as universities, schools, TAFEs, State and Federal governments, corporations, associations and press clipping agencies. CAL distributes this money to the rights holders whose works have appeared in CAL’s copying records.”
Under the Attorney-General’s Guidelines for Collecting Societies, CAL is able to allocate up to 1pc of licence fees to a cultural fund, which grants funds for cultural purposes as approved by the board.
My call today confirmed CAL is growing with the web.
All power to them and thanks from a small-fish writer for the service.
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That’s awesome!
I wish I’d get an email like that.
All I get is spam crap.
I think it’s a huge honor that a school is using some of your stuff.
Excellent . I am only wondering where the money came from. Did the school in question have to pay for the use of your article?
Christine
Twitter: mgorey
says:
Christine, Yes. The school (or Education Department) paid. Apparently there are protocols in place for the use of copyright material by schools, universities and government agencies.
CAL monitors this usage, processes the money collected and retains a small commission.
That’s my understanding, anyway. I should have more details when the letter arrives from CAL.
Interestingly, if a public school had asked me for permission to use the article I would have waived copyright.
However, if it was used by a private school, the Education Department or a cluster of schools I would expect payment.
Must be a good feeling to get $260 totally unexpectedly
. CAL sounds like a great organisation, I think it must make a lot of people happy around Australia.
Thanks for posting this and congrats! I received an email from CAL today myself and have been googling to try and find out if they are legit. As you I’m excited that a school liked my resources enough to want to share.