Olivier Charbonneau, a Quebec-based librarian, has an op-ed in Le Devoir calling for fair copyright reform including expanding fair dealing.
Olivier Charbonneau on Fair Copyright Reform
August 7, 2009
Share this post
One Comment

Law Bytes
Episode 254: Looking Back at the Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy
byMichael Geist

December 22, 2025
Michael Geist
December 8, 2025
Michael Geist
December 1, 2025
Michael Geist
November 24, 2025
Michael Geist
November 17, 2025
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
The Year in Review: Top Ten Michael Geist Substacks
The Year in Review: Top Ten Law Bytes Podcast Episodes
The Year in Review: Top Ten Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 254: Looking Back at the Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy
Confronting Antisemitism in Canada: If Leaders Won’t Call It Out Without Qualifiers, They Can’t Address It

Charbonneau Makes Good Points
I think Charbonneau is right on target when he calls for a balanced approach to copyright. He is absolutely correct to note the effect on analysis or instruction, for example, if a creator could veto the use of the work for such things.
His example that the US use of “fair use” is better than the Canadian use of “fair dealing” – for example that people are entitled to satirize a work or teachers to show an illustrative movie to a class are not infringing copyright is well taken.
The only ting I’d disagree with him on is the length of the present term of copyright, which I think should be lowered to 20 years, like patents.