Meera Nair, who contributed a chapter on fair dealing in From “Radical Extremism” to “Balanced Copyright”: Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda, blogs on the debate in the House of Commons on C-32, noting that “the mere mention of education as fair dealing brings out the worst fears of Canadian […]
Post Tagged with: "fair dealing"
Copyright Bill is No Ripoff of Textbooks
David Fewer of CIPPIC responds to the misinformation campaign on C-32 and fair dealing.
The Bill C-32 Debate Begins: Locks, Levies & Misinformation on Fair Dealing
The issue at the top of the Liberal and NDP agenda is digital locks. Both parties (along with the Bloc) expressed concern with the digital lock approach in Bill C-32. The Liberals repeatedly emphasized the need for consumers to have the right to circumvent for format shifting, backup copies, and other consumer activities. This would require changes to both the consumer provisions and the general anti-circumvention provision, since both create barriers to these basic consumer activities. Given that the U.S. now allows circumvention of DVDs for some non-commercial purposes, this seems like a reasonable compromise. The NDP placed the spotlight on the impact of locks on education and teaching, describing the exceptions that require destruction of teaching materials 30 days after the end of the course as a digital book burning.
Access Copyright to the Supreme Court: No Need for Greater Fair Dealing Certainty
Against Bill C-32: Creator Groups Stake Out Strong Anti-Copyright Bill Position
Update 11/1: I have received a request to remove the link to the ACTRA document on the grounds that it was posted prematurely. I have been advised that there is not yet consensus among all groups listed in the document on the various C-32 issues.
When Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore told an IP conference last June that only two groups of radical extremists were opposed to Bill C-32, most assumed that he had user groups in mind. Yet as various groups begin to publicly make their positions known, few have been as critical as a creator coalition that includes ACTRA, a writers’ coalition, visual arts coalition, and Quebec artists groups. In a backgrounder on the bill, those groups oppose nearly all the major reform elements of Bill C-32, with the notable exception of digital locks (on which they remain silent).
Just how broad is the opposition? The position paper stakes out the following positions:
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