Post Tagged with: "anti-circumvention"

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Industry Committee Recommends Adding Digital Lock Exception to USMCA Copyright Provisions

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology has released its recommendations for changes to Bill C-4, the bill designed to implement the Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement. I appeared before the committee and used this week’s Lawbytes podcast to highlight some of the discussion. The committee had a limited time to study the bill, but arrived at some important recommendations on the copyright and digital policy provisions.

First, it recommended adding a new exception to Canada’s digital lock rules to address concerns in the agriculture sector about the right to repair their equipment. The issue has been gaining momentum around the world as many identify the over-broad restrictions often associated with anti-circumvention laws. The recommendation:

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March 12, 2020 3 comments News
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Canadian DMCA in Action: Court Awards Massive Damages in First Major Anti-Circumvention Copyright Ruling

The Federal Court of Canada has issued a massive damage award in the first major Canadian digital lock copyright ruling involving circumvention of technological protection measures.  The ruling, which is the first to conduct an extensive examination of the anti-circumvention rules established in 2012, adopts expansive interpretations to the digital lock protections and narrow views of the exceptions. The case confirms that Canada has tough anti-piracy laws with one of the most aggressive digital lock laws in the world and will fuel calls to re-examine the effectiveness of the anti-circumvention exceptions in the 2017 copyright review.

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March 3, 2017 40 comments News
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The Trouble With the TPP, Day 38: Limits on Canadian Digital Lock Safeguards

As part of the contentious debate over the implementation of anti-circumvention rules in Canadian copyright law in 2012, the government tried to assure concerned stakeholders that it had established specific mechanisms within the law to create additional exceptions to the general rule against circumvention. The law includes a handful of exceptions for issues such as security or privacy protection, but there is also a process for adding new limitations to the general rule. There are two possible avenues for new limitations and exceptions. First, Section 41.21(1) allows the Governor in Council to make regulations for an exception where the law would otherwise “unduly restrict competition.” Second, Section 41.21(2)(a) identifies other circumstances to consider for new regulations for exceptions including whether the circumvention rules could adversely affect the fair dealing criteria.

In addition to those two potential regulation making models for new exceptions and limitations, Canadian law also establishes the possibility of creating a positive requirement on rights holders to unlock their locked content. It states that the Governor in Council may make regulations:

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February 25, 2016 1 comment News
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The Trouble With the TPP, Day 37: Breaking Digital Locks For Personal Purposes

The Trouble with the TPP series has featured several posts on the impact of the agreement on copyright law, including copyright term extension and changes to the digital lock rules. The potential changes to Canadian copyright law do not end there, however.  For the next three days, I will focus on concerns arising from the TPP’s damages provisions that might restrict future Canadian copyright policies or require legislative change.

The first involves the TPP damages requirements associated with the anti-circumvention rules. As with many aspects of the TPP, the rules get very complicated, very quickly. The analysis starts with the TPP requirements. Article 18.68 establishes the rules for technological protection measures. The mandatory penalties for circumvention can be found in Article 18.84 (17):

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February 24, 2016 1 comment News
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The Trouble with the TPP, Day 2: Locking in Digital Locks

The Trouble with the TPP series (Day 1: US Blocks Balancing Provisions) spends the next few days examining the TPP’s copyright provisions. One of the most controversial aspects of the 2012 Canadian copyright reform process involved the anti-circumvention provisions, often referred to as the digital lock rules. The U.S. pressured Canada to include anti-circumvention rules, which were required for ratification of the WIPO Internet Treaties, within the copyright reform package. They feature legal protections for technological protection measures (TPMs, a broader umbrella that captures digital rights management or DRM) and rights management information (RMI).

There was an enormous amount of scholarly analysis on these issues throughout the reform process. For example, I wrote about the flexibility in implementing the WIPO Internet Treaties, Carys Craig wrote about the negative implications for fair dealing, Ian Kerr wrote about the broader implications of digital locks, Jeremy deBeer focused on the constitutional concerns, and Mark Perry wrote about rights management information. Moreover, David Lametti, now a Liberal MP and the Parliamentary Secretary for International Trade, wrote about the incoherence of the digital lock rules. The academic analysis was decidedly negative about the legal reforms as was the broader public, which made the issue a top priority as part of the 2009 copyright consultation.

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January 5, 2016 2 comments News