Post Tagged with: "copyright"

30 Days of DRM – Day 19: Backup Copies of Digital Consumer Products (Circumvention Rights)

Copyright reform is frequently characterized as "modernizing outdated copyright laws" (e.g. see yesterday's excellent Ottawa Citizen's masthead editorial). Leaving aside the fact that Canadian copyright law has undergone two major revisions in less than 20 years (along with several smaller changes), the reality is that the modernization is almost entirely focused on the interests' of a select few industries. Consider the issue of backup copies. Yesterday's post addressed a right of circumvention for backup copies of software, reflecting the need to preserve provisions in the Copyright Act that are nearly 20 years old. Those provisions rightly recognize that software programs are an intangible product that is susceptible to loss. Creating a backup copy right is a simple way to allow consumers to protect their investment.

If the government is serious about modernizing the Copyright Act, it could do worse than to start by modernizing the backup copy provision.

September 5, 2006 — 1 comment — News

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 15: Artistic Access (Circumvention Rights)

The copyright lobby frequently characterizes the use of DRM and anti-circumvention legislation as benefiting creators. Contrary to the rhetoric, however, a growing number of creators actively oppose DRM and the prospect of anti-circumvention legislation. The Canadian Music Creators Coalition justifiably generated enormous attention last spring when dozens of Canada's leading musicians came together to form a new coalition opposed to suing fans, using DRM, or establishing anti-circumvention legislation. The Appropriation Art coalition, launched soon afterward, may have less noteriety but they combine to form a powerful voice. Consisting of more than 600 artists, curators, directors, educators, writers, associations and organizations from the art sector, the coalition features artists that have collectively won dozens of major awards including eight Governor General Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

Despite these credentials, the group incredibly received little more than a form letter from Bev Oda, the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Perhaps that is because the Appropriation Arts coalition tells a much different story from the copyright lobby.

September 2, 2006 — 2 comments — News