Post Tagged with: "collectives"

Canada Copyright Board: Challenges & Opportunities #copycon2015 panel by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/z73WDe

Prioritizing the Public Interest: My Submission on Copyright Board of Canada Reform

The government’s consultation on reform to the Copyright Board of Canada recently closed with a plan for reform expected to be unveiled in the coming months. My submission to the consultation is posted below. It focuses on two areas. First, it emphasizes the overriding goal of any public institution or administrative tribunal: serving the public interest. In doing so, it points to three issues: public participation, the independence of members of the Copyright Board, and regulation and transparency of copyright collectives.

On this last issue, I note the close linkage between the parties that appear or are affected by board decisions and reform of the board itself. While the consultation document maintains that governance of collecting societies is beyond the scope of the consultation, I argue that solely addressing administrative powers wielded by the board without also assessing the rules pertaining to participation before the board will not adequately address concerns regarding the function of the board itself. In other words, the who and the how are inextricably linked and must be addressed concurrently.

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October 16, 2017 6 comments Committees, News
copyright definition. by Nick Youngson http://nyphotographic.com/ CC BY-SA 3.0 http://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/c/copyright.html

Canadian Government Puts Copyright Board Overhaul on Fast Track With Consultation Launching Tomorrow

The Canadian government is planning the most significant changes to the Copyright Board of Canada in decades with a consultation set to officially launch tomorrow. Given the longstanding concerns with the Board from creators and users alike, the government has decided to place board reform on a fast track that is separate from the broader copyright review scheduled to commence later this year. The consultation, which will outline potential reforms to address delays and case backlogs, will run until late September. Navdeep Bains, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, working with Canadian Heritage, hopes to introduce a Copyright Board reform legislative and regulatory package in early 2018.

I spoke earlier today to Bains, who explained that the government believes there needs to be quicker decisions, greater transparency, and an effort to address the current backlog given concerns about ensuring creators are paid and in bringing new innovative service to the Canadian market. The consultation, being held jointly by ISED, Canadian Heritage and the Board, will identify several potential measures to address the board delays including case management processes, establishing new case deadlines, streamlining cases before the board, as well as giving the board more power to advance proceedings, award costs, and limit the ability for parties to delay proceedings.

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August 8, 2017 5 comments News

Katz on Copyright Collectives

University of Toronto law professor Ariel Katz posts about his latest paper on copyright collectives.

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August 18, 2009 2 comments News

Canadian Heritage Copyright Collective Study Released

The Canadian Heritage sponsored study on copyright collectives by C. Craig Parks has been publicly released.  I blogged about an earlier version here.

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August 2, 2007 1 comment News

Indie Labels and the Importance of Webcasting

Jon Healey of the LA Times points to some research from Live365 that confirms what many have long suspected – webcasting and the Internet is far more important to independent labels than it is to the majors.  The company reports that 55 percent of music played on webcasting stations comes […]

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July 25, 2007 4 comments News