Michael Geist

Latest Posts

York Latest To Opt-Out of Access Copyright as Schools Seek Flexibility

Canadian university and college campuses are quiet at this time of year, but in recent weeks many have been making noise by transforming the way professors and students access and license course materials. For years, schools paid an annual per student fee to Access Copyright, a copyright collective that licenses photocopying and the creation of print coursepacks. Starting in September, many of Canada’s top universities will no longer use the Access Copyright licence, opting instead for a more flexible, tech savvy alternative. The latest to announce that it is opting out is York University, which sent a notice to faculty yesterday.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the shift away from Access Copyright marks the culmination of years of technological change within Canadian education that has resulted in new ways for professors to disseminate research and educational materials as well as greater reliance by students on the Internet, electronic materials, and portable computers.

July 26, 2011 — 25 comments — Columns

Canada – EU Trade Deal Pushing Toward New Canadian Copyright Enforcement Bill

The latest round of the Canada – EU trade agreement negotiations recently concluded in Brussels and Canadian officials provided an update to civil society groups on Friday. While officials indicated that there has been progress on many fronts, the intellectual property chapter is not one of them. The EU is […]

July 25, 2011 — 9 comments — News

Access Copyright: It’s “Virtually Impossible” to Opt-Out Of Tariff

Over the past few weeks, a growing number of Canadian universities have announced plans to opt-out of the Access Copyright interim tariff effective September 1, 2011 (the University of Calgary’s Gauntlet has an excellent article on the issue). Those universities join many others that opted-out from the start of the year. While many universities are moving on to alternative licensing approaches, the universities and Access Copyright continue to battle over the prospect of transactional (or pay-per-use) licensing which the universities want and Access Copyright refuses to grant. The AUCC filed its response on the issue earlier this week, which included some notable correspondence between Access Copyright and academic publishers.

According to Access Copyright “it’s virtually impossible to ‘opt-out’ of the interim tariff. The only way an institution would be able to ‘opt-out’ would be an absolute ban on all copying.” This is simply false and it is stunning to see Access Copyright advise major publishers that that is the case (along with advice that publishers tell universities that the interim tariff is the only option – “take it or leave it”).

July 22, 2011 — 11 comments — News

CIRA Implements Revised Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy Rules

CIRA has announced changes to the dot-ca domain name dispute resolution policy. The changes expand the scope of bad faith, but also eliminate the need for use for generic domain names. The changes take effect on August 22nd.

July 22, 2011 — 5 comments — News

Mexican Senate Votes Against ACTA

The Mexican Senate has voted against ratifying the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The vote comes on the heels of a European report that cautions against implementing ACTA without changes to EU law and guidelines for EU member state implementation.

July 22, 2011 — 3 comments — News