Post Tagged with: "Research"

Supreme Court of Canada Stands Up For Fair Dealing in Stunning Sweep of Cases

The Supreme Court of Canada issued its much anticipated rulings in the five copyright cases (ESAC v. SOCAN, Rogers v. SOCAN, SOCAN v. Bell – song previews, Alberta v. Access Copyright, Re:Sound) it heard last December (my coverage of the two days of hearings here and here). It will obviously take some time to digest these decisions, but the clear takeaway is that the court has delivered an undisputed win for fair dealing that has positive implications for education and innovation, while striking a serious blow to copyright collectives such as Access Copyright.

Led by Justice Abella, the court has reaffirmed that fair dealing is a user’s right that must be interpreted in a broad and liberal manner. In fact, the court provides further guidance on interpreting fair dealing with an emphasis on the need for a flexible, technology-neutral approach. In reading the decisions in the Access Copyright and song previews cases, it is hard to imagine a bigger victory for education, Internet users, and innovative companies. This post will provide some quick key points in the Access Copyright and song previews decisions.

The Access Copyright case has enormous implications for education and copyright in Canada. With the court’s strong endorsement of fair dealing in the classroom, it completely eviscerates much of Access Copyright’s business model and calls into question the value of the model licence signed by many Canadian universities. Writing for the majority, Abella adopts several crucial findings, not the least of which is that fair dealing is a user’s right. Piece by piece, Abella tears apart Access Copyright’s claims. First, she says the attempt by Access Copyright to separate teacher copies for students and students making their own copies should be rejected. The court states:

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July 12, 2012 78 comments News

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 19: Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences represents more than 85,000 researchers in 80 scholarly associations, 79 universities and colleges, and 6 affiliates. Its submission on Bill C-32’s digital lock rules provides a good illustration of the damage likely to be caused by the rules to research in […]

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October 31, 2011 1 comment News

Federal Court of Appeal Rules Song Previews Can Be Fair Dealing

The Federal Court of Appeal today issued an important decision confirming the broad scope of fair dealing in Canada [link not yet available].  At issue was whether "research" within fair dealing could extend to song previews that are made available on sites like iTunes where a consumer can freely listen to roughly 30 seconds of a song.  The Copyright Board of Canada ruled in 2007 that a broad and liberal interpretation of fair dealing meant that it could be included since the preview was effectively consumer research on whether to purchase the song.  SOCAN disagreed and sought judicial review.

The Federal Court of Appeal has affirmed the Copyright Board's interpretation, opening the door to many other consumer research possibilities under the current fair dealing provision.  While SOCAN argued that research should be limited to scientific-type inquiry in a formal setting, the court disagreed, stating:

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May 14, 2010 26 comments News

State of the Innovation Nation, 2008

The Science, Technology and Innovation Council has released its first public report that benchmarks Canada's science, technology and innovation system against the world's innovating countries.  The report includes discussion on the need for open innovation.  There is no recommendation or discussion on the need for stronger IP laws.

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May 6, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

61 Reforms to C-61, Day 25: TPMs – Research Exception Limited to Encryption and Security Testing

Bill C-61 includes two exceptions relevant for researchers: an exception at Section 41.13 limited to encryption research (unlike the U.S. DMCA, encryption research is not defined) and security testing at Section 41.15, which could be construed to include security research on computer or network vulnerabilities.  The impact of the anti-circumvention […]

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July 25, 2008 6 comments News