Fair Dealing by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dRkXwP

Copyright

Will Canada Stand Up for the Rights of the Visually Impaired?

New technologies have opened the door to greater access for millions of people who are visually impaired, yet copyright law frequently stands in the way. This is particularly true in the developing world, where digital works are often unavailable due to legal restrictions. My weekly technology law column (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) notes that on June 17, delegates from around the world will gather in Marrakesh, Morocco for a diplomatic conference to negotiate the final text on a new United Nations treaty that is designed to improve access to copyrighted works for people who are blind or have other perceptual disabilities.

The Treaty for the Visually Impaired, which has been the subject of years of discussion at the World Intellectual Property Organization, seeks to address the access problem in two ways.

June 12, 2013 — 2 comments — Columns

Will Canada Stand Up for the Rights of the Visually Impaired?

Appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on June 11, 2013 as Will Canada Back the Rights of the Visually Impaired New technologies have opened the door to greater access for millions of people who are visually impaired, yet copyright law frequently stands in the way. This is particularly true in the […]

June 11, 2013 — Comments are Disabled — Columns Archive

University of Toronto, Western Provide Notice to Access Copyright That They Will Not Extend Licence

Ariel Katz reports that the University of Toronto has notified Access Copyright that it will not extend the current licence agreement. It points to a range of factors – the SCC decisions, copyright reform, and open access among them – to argue that there should be substantial reductions in the […]

June 11, 2013 — Comments are Disabled — News

The Trouble with the Trans Pacific Partnership: My Appearance before the International Trade Committee

Earlier this week, I was invited to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade to discuss the benefits of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade agreement involving the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and a handful of other Asian and South American countries. My comments were critical of the proposed agreement as I focused on two issues: copyright and secrecy. The opening comments sparked a lively debate, with the NDP MPs tabling documents I obtained under the Access to Information Act detailing inside access to TPP information for select stakeholders and the Conservative MPs alternately questioning the validity of leaked texts and providing assurances that draft text could change before the final agreement is concluded. I’ll post the transcript once it is available. In the meantime, my opening remarks are posted below.