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Thursday May 24, 2012 |
Copyright has emerged as a hot issue on Canadian university campuses in
recent weeks as schools consider whether to sign the Access
Copyright model licence negotiated with the AUCC. Several
schools, including UBC,
Athabasca,
Windsor,
and Winnipeg
have already indicated that they will not sign the licence, while
others (such as Queen's,
Victoria
and Calgary)
have reluctantly signed the letter of intent.
Many groups have voiced their strong objection to the licence,
including the CAUT,
APLA, BCLA,
MLA,
CFS,
and CASA.
These groups represent faculty,
students, and librarians - the three groups within education most
affected by the model
licence.
Last week, I was asked by the Association of Professors
Ottawa, the University of Ottawa faculty union, for my views. I opened
my remarks by emphasizing a key misconception often
fueled by
Access Copyright and its supporters. The question being faced by the
universities is not whether to pay for copyright works. Universities,
faculty and students currently spend millions of dollars every year on
copyright materials and will continue to do so.
The only question is whether - in addition to existing expenditures on
books, licences, and in support of open access - they should also pay
the $26 per student fee to Access Copyright.
I believe the answer is no for the following six key reasons:
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Wednesday May 16, 2012 |
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Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro offers up one of the oddest copyright
analogies during the C-11 debate, likening format shifting to socks
and shoes.
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Tuesday May 15, 2012 |
The government yesterday gave notice
of time allocation
on the Bill C-11 debate, which will cut short the debate over the
copyright bill. The move does not come as a surprise, given the
willingness to use time allocation for other bills and the
Conservatives' consistent position that it will not further amend the
bill. As I've stated repeatedly, there is much to like in Bill C-11
including expanded fair dealing, new consumer exceptions, new rights
for user generated content, the notice-and-notice approach for ISPs,
and the a cap on non-commercial statutory damages (this came up during
the House of Commons debate as Conservative MP Chris Alexander quoted
my comment on some of the balanced provisions but omitted the criticism
on digital locks). Moreover, the decision to reject demands
for website blocking, notice-and-takedown, an iPod tax, and disclosure
of subscriber information suggest that the bill could have been
considerably worse.
However, the decision to leave the digital lock rules unchanged remains
the bill's biggest flaw and given the widespread opposition to the
approach makes a mockery of Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore's
insistence that the bill reflects the public support. Yesterday, Moore defended
the approach:
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Monday May 14, 2012 |
Bill C-11, the copyright reform bill, is scheduled for debate today,
with a long list of proposed
amendments
from the Green Party's Elizabeth May and from Bloc MP André
Bellavance. Given the government's previous rejection of NDP and
Liberal amendments, there is little reason to believe any of these
proposals with garner support. That said, May's proposals offer
sensible changes to many of the most criticized elements of the bill,
particularly the digital lock rules. Her proposals include:
- linking circumvention to copyright infringement
- creating a new notice requirement for the inclusion of digital
locks
- creating a new qualified circumventer system, similar to that
found in New Zealand
- adding a new digital lock exception to protect minors
- removing the digital lock restrictions for time shifting and
backup copies
- adding a system to allow the Copyright Board to create new
digital lock exceptions
- removing the requirement that students destroy lesson materials
under a new exception within 30 days of the course concludes
- removing the requirement for schools to use digital locks to stop
further communication of lessons subject to a new exception
- removing the requirement that libraries take measures to ensure
digital inter-library loans cannot be used for more than five business
days
A previous May proposal to create new limits to education fair dealing
has been dropped, though she is proposing giving the Governor in
Council the power to create regulations to define "education" for the
purposes of fair dealing.
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