Post Tagged with: "drm"

30 Days of DRM – Day 24: Time Shifting (Circumvention Rights)

Given that my column today focuses on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty, the issue of time shifting and DRM comes to mind. The concept of time shifting arose from the U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the legality of the Sony Betamax machine. Arguments before the court focused on the fact that taping television programs simply enabled users to shift the time when they watch the taped program. More than 20 years later, the VCR (and increasingly DVRs and PVRs) are commonplace and consumers give little thought to the legal consequences of copying television programs.

While such activity is protected in the U.S., there is nothing in the Copyright Act in Canada that would expressly permit time shifting.

September 11, 2006 — 1 comment — News

30 Days of DRM – Day 23: Education Institutions (Circumvention Rights)

Much like the Libraries, Archives, and Museums provisions discussed yesterday, Canadian educational institutions also benefit from some specific exceptions under the Copyright Act. These include:

Section 29.4(1), which permits copying a work to project in a classroom for education or training purposes
Section 29.4(2), which permits reproduction or telecommunications of works as required for examination purposes
Section 29.6, which permits educational institutions and their educators to make a copy of a news program to be shown to a class, while 29.7 covers any other program communicated to the public by telecommunication for a class presentation. These provisions are subject to several requirements including royalty payments and stringent record keeping.

All of these provisions face the prospect of being curtailed by DRM as the technology can be used to limit basic copying, reproduction, and copying of television broadcasts. Once anti-circumvention legislation is added to the mix, merely attempting to exercise those rights could constitute an infringement.

September 10, 2006 — Comments are Disabled — News

30 Days of DRM – Day 22: Libraries (Circumvention Rights)

Early in the series, I discussed the need for DRM-free library deposits as part of the legislated library deposit program that seeks to preserve Canadian heritage. There are additional library issues, however, that merit discussion. Section 30.1 of the Copyright Act grants libraries (as well as archives and museums) special rights to copy works in order to preserve or manage their collections. These are important rights and any anti-circumvention legislation must not be permitted to render them ineffective.

Section 30.1(1) provides that, under certain circumstances:

It is not an infringement of copyright for a library, archive or museum or a person acting under the authority of a library, archive or museum to make, for the maintenance or management of its permanent collection or the permanent collection of another library, archive or museum, a copy of a work or other subject-matter, whether published or unpublished, in its permanent collection

The circumstances that permit such copying include a copy that is:

September 9, 2006 — Comments are Disabled — News

30 Days of DRM – Day 19: Backup Copies of Digital Consumer Products (Circumvention Rights)

Copyright reform is frequently characterized as "modernizing outdated copyright laws" (e.g. see yesterday's excellent Ottawa Citizen's masthead editorial). Leaving aside the fact that Canadian copyright law has undergone two major revisions in less than 20 years (along with several smaller changes), the reality is that the modernization is almost entirely focused on the interests' of a select few industries. Consider the issue of backup copies. Yesterday's post addressed a right of circumvention for backup copies of software, reflecting the need to preserve provisions in the Copyright Act that are nearly 20 years old. Those provisions rightly recognize that software programs are an intangible product that is susceptible to loss. Creating a backup copy right is a simple way to allow consumers to protect their investment.

If the government is serious about modernizing the Copyright Act, it could do worse than to start by modernizing the backup copy provision.

September 5, 2006 — 1 comment — News

Sony Settles Canadian Class Actions over Rootkit

Jeremy deBeer reports that Sony BMG Canada has settled several Canadian class action lawsuits over the inclusion of the rootkit in dozens of CDs. The settlement, which must still be approved by a Canadian court, features similar terms to those found in the U.S., including the right to cash compensation […]

August 31, 2006 — Comments are Disabled — News