A non-profit organisation, the Copyright Licensing and Administration Society of Singapore (Class) set up in 1999 has begun negotiations with a number of educational institutions in Singapore to collect copyright fees on behalf of publishers and authors, who are its members, whose printed works are copied by students in educational institutions.
Class is affiliated to the International Federation of Reproductions Rights Organisations which is a body that consists of organisations from around the world that license the multiple copying of the printed works of their members.
Class has already signed an agreement with the Nanyang Technological University and with the French business school INSEAD. It is in negotiations with a number of other educational institutions. Class expects to eventually sign agreements with even the photocopy shops that provide copying services to the public.
The annual fee that Class expects to charge per student can range from a few US cents to a few US dollars and is dependent on the educational level and type of educational institution.
Students hearing that they will have to pay copyright license fees received the news with mixed feelings. They said that they understood and respected the need for intellectual property rights to be protected but hoped that the fees to be collected will not be too high.
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