Michael Geist

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30 Days of DRM – Day 18: Backup Copies of Software (Circumvention Rights)

As part of a major set of copyright reforms in 1988, Canadian copyright law was amended to allow for the making of backup copies of computer programs. Section 30.6(b), the backup copy provision, is quite narrow, permitting the making of a single backup copy of a computer program "for a person who owns a copy of the computer program," provided that the copy is for backup purposes only and that it is destroyed "immediately when the person ceases to be the owner of the copy of the computer program."

This provision, which has not been tested in the courts, raises the interesting question of whether owning a copy of the computer program refers to owning the copyright in the computer program or owning the physical copy of the computer program. Many commentators believe that it refers to copyright ownership, in which case the provision is relatively meaningless given that most consumer software is licensed and not owned (although the enforceability of licenses that prohibit backup copies would make for an interesting test case).

The provision would be far more useful (and make much more sense) with the latter interpretation, however.

September 5, 2006 — 2 comments — News

Education Ministers’ Copyright Proposal Needs a Rewrite

As thousands of children across the province return to school tomorrow, nearly everyone will be asking "what did you do this summer?" If the question were posed to Education Minister Sandra Pupatello, her candid reply might be that she was working with her fellow Provincial Ministers of Education on reforms that will have damaging consequences on Internet use in Canada.

So begins this week's Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) which focuses on the disasterous push from the CMEC to establish a specific educational exception for the use of publicly-available Internet materials. While the CMEC proposal is at least better than Access Copyright's proposed extended license for Internet content (the column reveals that AC has approached Canadian Heritage for funding to support becoming the Canadian collective for the International Standard Text Code – a new standard for "textual works" that can be applied to everything from books to blogs and thus form the basis for a future license), there are potentially several negative long-term effects.

I point to five issues in particular.

September 4, 2006 — 11 comments — Columns

Australia A.G. Releases Draft TPM Legislation

While Canada is still weeks or months from new legislation (hence the 30 Days of DRM project), Australia's Attorney General has just released draft anti-circumvention legislation. Australia faces different circumstances from Canada since its free trade agreement with the U.S. requires new laws by the end of the year. The […]

September 4, 2006 — 2 comments — News

30 Days of DRM – Day 17: Broken or Obsolete Technology (Circumvention Rights)

The inclusion of a right to circumvent in the event that the TPM breaks or becomes obsolete is relatively uncontroversial. The U.S. Registrar of Copyrights has included a specific exception for this situation since 2000 and the Australian Parliamentary Review Committee recommended the inclusion of such an exception this year. The exception reflects the recognition that the continual evolution of technology places the investment that consumers make in entertainment and software products at risk in the event that a TPM ceases to function or becomes obsolete. While products do not come with a guarantee to function forever, the law should not impair consumers who seek to circumvent techologies that are no longer supported and thus create a significant barrier to access to their own property.

The current DVD market provides a good illustration of the potential problem.

September 4, 2006 — 8 comments — News

30 Days of DRM – Day 16: System Repair (Circumvention Rights)

With news this week of a Canadian settlement of the Sony rootkit case, it is worth revisiting the admonishment that case elicited from Stewart Baker, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary of policy. As noted earlier this series, Baker reminded the recording industry that "it's very important to […]

September 3, 2006 — 3 comments — News