Archive for March 12th, 2012

Proposed Bill C-11 Amendments: Gov Says No Changes to Digital Locks, Fair Dealing or User Provisions

The Bill C-11 committee has just opened the clause-by-clause review of the copyright bill with 39 amendments on the table: 8 from the goverment, 17 from the NDP, and 14 from the Liberals. The good news is that the misinformation campaign on issues such as fair dealing, user generated content, consumer provisions, statutory damages, and Internet provider liability has largely failed as the government is not proposing significant changes to those provisions. These all represent good compromise positions that will likely remain intact.

Unfortunately, the digital lock provisions will also remain largely unchanged as the government is not proposing to link circumvention to copyright infringement (both the NDP and Liberals will put forward such amendments). The music and movie lobby are getting one of their demands as the enabler provision will be expanded from targeting sites “primarily designed” to enable infringement to providing a service primarily for the purpose of enabling acts of infringement. The CIMA demand for an even broader rule has been rejected.

A summary of some of the proposed amendments, by party (note: subject to possible change should a party decide not to introduce the amendment):

Copyright Bill Hits the Home Stretch: C-11 Clause by Clause Review Today

Days after the Conservative government introduced its copyright reform bill in June 2010, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore spoke out in support of the legislative package by notoriously labeling critics as “radical extremists” who should be confronted until “they are defeated.” This week, the copyright bill hits the home stretch as the Bill C-11 legislative committee conducts its final “clause-by-clause” review.

The bill has been a subject of debate for nearly 20 months and over the course of that period, there has been a surprising role reversal. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that Moore’s vision of strong support from copyright lobby groups has been replaced by demands to overhaul the legislation with a broad array of extreme measures, while the supposed critics – library groups, educators, consumer associations, and individual Canadians – have endorsed much of the legislation with only requests for modest changes to the controversial digital lock provisions.

Copyright Bill Hits the Home Stretch

Appeared in the Toronto Star on March 11, 2012 as Copyright Bill Hits the Home Stretch Days after the Conservative government introduced its copyright reform bill in June 2010, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore spoke out in support of the legislative package by notoriously labeling critics as “radical extremists” who […]