My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Ottawa Citizen version, Vancouver Sun version, homepage version) notes that earlier this month, some fans of the NBC television programs American Gladiators and Medium found themselves unable to digitally record the shows on their personal computers. The reason for the blocked recordings raises important technical and legal questions about the rights of consumers to "time shift" television programs in the digital era. The blocked recordings affected people that record television programs on their personal computers using the Microsoft Windows Vista Media Centre. Most people are unaware that Microsoft has inserted a feature that allows a broadcaster or content owner to stop the digital recording of a show by triggering a "broadcast flag" that specifies its preference that the show not be recorded. When the user tries to record it, Microsoft’s software recognizes the flag and issues a warning that the program cannot be recorded.
Post Tagged with: "fair dealing"
Copyfight at the Library of Parliament Committee
It looks like Industry Minister Jim Prentice has yet another group that will be unhappy with his forthcoming copyright bill – the Library of Parliament. Macleans Kady O'Malley live-blogged a committee hearing today (short summary here) during which a fight over copyright broke out. The Library called for a special […]
The CAB on Using Your VCR or PVR
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters, in a submission to the CRTC, states: in Canada, consumers who record TV shows for later viewing, whether on a VCR, in-home PVR or, potentially, through an NPVR, are infringing copyright. For this reason, Canadian BDUs are actively seeking an amendment to the Copyright Act […]
Fair Dealing and Media Use of Flickr Photos
The Torontoist covers a recent decision by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council on CityNews' use of photos from Flickr in a news report without attribution. City argued that the use was covered by the news reporting provisions in fair dealing. The CBSC disagreed, noting that the statute requires attribution.
Canadian Federation of Students on Copyright Reform
The Canadian Federation of Students, representing a half million students from coast to coast, just released its position paper on copyright reform. The CFS position includes support for a more flexible fair dealing provision, rejection of the AUCC/CMEC educational exemption, calling for balanced TPM measures, implementation of a notice-and-notice approach, […]
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