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

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

Copyright

Writers Groups Attack Fair Dealing Reform in Copyright Bill

Several writers groups have written to Industry Minister Tony Clement and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore to criticize elements of Bill C-32.  The letter focuses on the fair dealing exception for education:

From our perspective the biggest weakness in the bill is the addition of the word ‘education’ to the purposes of “fair dealing” without clear legislative guidance on how this amended provision of the Copyright Act will work in conjunction with other, more specific exceptions for education. We think that this new fair dealing provision will result in serious damage to the cultural sector and to Canada’s embryonic knowledge economy and, together with other new exceptions, negatively affect Canada’s professional writers.

The letter adds “we see that without further clarification of some provisions there will be unintended consequences and years of costly litigation.”

It is important to emphasize again that this is fear mongering that is simply inaccurate. 

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August 24, 2010 68 comments News

Postmedia on Access Copyright Tariff Proposal

Postmedia covers the mounting concern over the Access Copyright tariff proposal with a story on how the tariff could stifle Internet users and researchers.

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August 24, 2010 Comments are Disabled News

Was No Copyright the Real Reason Behind Germany’s Industrial Expansion?

Many people have written to point to this interesting article in Der Spiegel, which points to a new book that concludes that German’s rapid industrial expansion in the 19th century may have been due to the absence of copyright law.

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August 24, 2010 2 comments News

ACTA Round Ten Concludes: Deal May Be One Month Away, Updated Text To Remain Secret

Round ten of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations in Washington concluded on Friday with countries confirming progress on all fronts and hopes to reach agreement on all remaining substantive issues at the next round in negotiations in Japan in late September.  While the joint statement is not yet online, Reuters […]

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August 21, 2010 18 comments News

Is Relying on Open Access Materials “Irresponsible”?

Last week I raised the question of whether Canadian universities should consider walking away from Access Copyright in light of its recent tariff demands.  The post did not reject licencing, but rather noted that the combined effect of openly accessible materials, licenced databases, and fair dealing was such that the Access Copyright licence may not be necessary for many professors.  Where there is a need for a specific work that is not otherwise available, it could be directly licenced with the copyright holder, thereby ensuring that the actual author receives full compensation for their work.  In the post, I used myself an example, noting that I am able to rely on openly accessible materials for my courses.

The fact that I rely on openly accessible materials led Access Copyright supporter John Degen to describe my approach as a “shockingly arbitrary and irresponsible policy that will only place artificial (and highly political) limits on education.” Degen then implies that the choice is based on attempting to find cheap materials or ones that are consistent with my political leanings.

Yet the only thing irresponsible is Degen’s effort to link cost with quality. 

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August 18, 2010 106 comments News