Post Tagged with: "digital locks"

The Copyright Costs of Joining the TPP: Extending Bill C-11 With More Digital Locks & Penalties

Coverage of the Canadian government’s decision to seek entry into the Trans Pacific Partnership trade negotiations with the United States, Australia, and many other Asian and South American countries has focused primarily on the potential impact on supply management systems in the dairy and other agricultural sectors. While some believe Canada will ask for an exemption for supply management (and some countries view Canada’s entrance into the talks with skepticism), the potential impact of the TPP on Canadian intellectual property laws should not be overlooked.

Based on leaks of the current drafts of the TPP IP chapter, the agreement would overhaul Canadian copyright law far beyond what is contemplated in Bill C-11. In fact, the TPP would require even stricter digital lock rules, extend the term of copyright, restrict trade in parallel imports, and increase various infringement penalties. If Canada were to ratify the TPP, it would require another copyright bill to undo much of what the government is about to enact with Bill C-11. A recent study on the implications of the copyright provisions point to many concerns including:

November 30, 2011 — 23 comments — News

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 41: Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia

The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia is a provincial association of book publishing companies representing 50 BC owned and controlled publishers. Its members are based throughout the province and they publish in all genres: scholarly, Aboriginal, literary, general trade, children’s, educational and reference. Its 2009 national copyright consultation submission included the following on digital locks:

copyright law should prohibit the circumvention of TPMs to a degree that would satisfy the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright treaties, but that would also provide for fair dealing, retail competition, security research, the protection of personal information and accessibility for the disabled.

November 30, 2011 — Comments are Disabled — News

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 40: Writers Guild of Canada

The Writers Guild of Canada represents more than 2,000 professional English-language screenwriters in Canada. The WGC’s position paper on Bill C-32 included the following comments on digital locks:

The only option that Bill C-32 offers creators is digital locks, which freezes current revenue streams for creators, and creates an illogical loophole in the copyright Bill by taking away the very rights the Bill grants to consumers in its other sections. Digital locks may work for software but they are not forward thinking and they are not popular with consumers. Digital locks are not a substitute for a clear revenue stream for creators.

November 29, 2011 — 5 comments — News

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 39: Literary Press Group of Canada

This week’s group of daily digital lock dissenters focuses on the book and writing world with organizations representing writers, publishers, and book sellers (the Canadian Bookseller Association was featured earlier). The Literary Press Group of Canada is a national organization representing those Canadian publishers who specialize in works of literary fiction, drama, poetry, belles lettres, and the fine arts. It 63 members, located in ten provinces, varying in scale from small, part-time operations to mid-sized firms that are commercially competitive in the global marketplace. As part of the 2009 copyright consultation, it said the following about digital locks:

We believe that copyright law should prohibit the circumvention of TPMs to a degree that would satisfy the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright treaties, but that would also provide for fair dealing, retail competition, security research, the protection of personal information, and accessibility for the disabled. Penalties for circumventing TPMs must apply only to cases of actual infringement. There is no merit in penalizing individuals who circumvent TPMs but do not distribute the unlocked materials or otherwise infringe on copyright in a fair-dealing context. The use of proprietary TPMs tied to reader or player devices must not be allowed to create an uncompetitive retail environment, or a retail environment in which Canadian content is only minimally visible or available to Canadian consumers.

November 28, 2011 — 1 comment — News

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 38: The Canadian Association for Open Source

The Canadian Association for Open Source promotes the use and development of free, open source software, by providing a public voice to the community of its Canadian users, developers and supporters. The Association submitted comments to the 2009 national copyright consultation that included the following on digital locks:

The key policy for software authors is “technological measures”, given this policy is about what software the owners of computers are and are not allowed to install and use on their own hardware. The Liberal Bill C-60 recognized the nuances of the 1996 WIPO treaties and tied anti-circumvention legislation to activities that would otherwise infringe coyright. The WIPO treaties use language such as:

Contracting Parties shall provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the circumvention of effective technological measures that are used by authors in connection with the exercise of their rights under this Treaty or the Berne Convention and that restrict acts, in respect of their works, which are not authorized by the authors concerned or permitted by law.

Being “used by authors in connection with” and “or permitted by law” suggests that anti-circumvention legislation should be tied to infringing activities. Copyright and other laws (including privacy law) should trump technological measures when there is a conflict, not the other way around. By clarifying that the anti-circumvention legislation is tied to copyright, the legislation could also avoid providing any protection for technical measures applied to devices by other than their owners.

November 25, 2011 — 1 comment — News