Canadian Copyright Consultation Begins

Barcey · 07-21-2009, 07:14 AM

Last week the Canadian Government began a nationwide consultation on copyright modernization. There have been a couple attempts in the last couple of years to update the Canadian copyright laws and last year's Bill C-61 was widely criticized because it was perceived to have been written only with backroom consultation from lobby groups. This time the government has started a website where the public can participate and they are also having public meetings across Canada.

Quote:

The Government of Canada is hosting a nationwide consultation on copyright modernization.

The government believes that all Canadians have a stake in this dialogue. That is why the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, and the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, are encouraging Canadians to join the discussion and to express their views throughout the consultation period, from July 20 to September 13, 2009.

This website will help Canadians find important resources about copyright and the modernization process to date. It will record the progress of these consultations so that you can follow the major issues shaping the conversation. You can stay in touch by following our RSS Feed.

Hopefully Canadians will take this opportunity to voice their opinions.

http://copyright.econsultation.ca/

Barcey · 07-25-2009, 12:36 PM

There doesn't appear to be a lot of interest in this but Ars Technica has a piece on it.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...-copyright.ars

There's also a daily summary here if anyone is interested.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/

Sparrow · 07-25-2009, 01:24 PM

I'm interested, and impressed the Canadian government has opened up the consultation to everyone.
It will be interesting to see how the debate unfolds.

Barcey.

zelda_pinwheel · 07-25-2009, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

I'm interested, and impressed the Canadian government has opened up the consultation to everyone.
It will be interesting to see how the debate unfolds.

Barcey.

that's how i feel too. i think this is a very important question and i really hope the canadian government will take into account the overall good of the people and canadian culture and not only the vested interests of corporations. it would be really wonderful if canada could be the first country to return copyright to something that more closely reflects its original intent ! let's hope that canadians participate massively in the discussion and that other countries will follow canada's lead in opening the debate. it's long overdue.

thank you barcey for the information !

BookLoverToo · 07-25-2009, 04:08 PM

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have already submitted my two cents' worth... that IMHO, format shifting for personal use only after a legal purchase should be acceptable, even if it does require the removal of drm.

Barcey · 07-25-2009, 05:58 PM

I should have mentioned the potential world wide implications. If Alex has to move the servers to another country there could be an extended MobileRead outage.

Patricia · 07-25-2009, 06:10 PM

I wonder. When Australia moved from a life+fifty years to a life+70 years rule, all the works that were in the public domain stayed PD. In other words, the legislation was not restrospective.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_copyright_law

doreenjoy · 07-25-2009, 08:59 PM

changes to copyright law are very rarely retroactive.

Just ask the heirs of George & Ira Gershwin.

Cookie Monster · 07-25-2009, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patricia

I wonder. When Australia moved from a life+fifty years to a life+70 years rule, all the works that were in the public domain stayed PD. In other words, the legislation was not restrospective.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_copyright_law

Australia got saddled with American copyright laws and couldn't even sell anything they're good at making but sceptics weren't, eg beef and sugar, in return.

When the EU harmonised copyright to the German standard of death+70 it was retrospective. Works that were public domain became copyrighted again.

I can imagine what the legal cases would have been like for work done in that gap.

HarryT · 07-26-2009, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookie Monster

When the EU harmonised copyright to the German standard of death+70 it was retrospective. Works that were public domain became copyrighted again.

I can imagine what the legal cases would have been like for work done in that gap.

In the UK, at least, the legislation covered that situation. It would really have to, don't you think?

If I recall correctly, everyone who was using a work which had been in the public domain, but was no longer, was permitted to freely carry on using the work, but no new usage was permitted.

Sparrow · 07-26-2009, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookie Monster

When the EU harmonised copyright to the German standard of death+70 it was retrospective. Works that were public domain became copyrighted again.

I can imagine what the legal cases would have been like for work done in that gap.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

In the UK, at least, the legislation covered that situation. It would really have to, don't you think?

I'm not sure why that it would.
Why not just ignore stuff that's fallen out of copyright under previous legislation? It'd keep things simple.

HarryT · 07-26-2009, 05:32 AM

You misunderstand me, Sparrow. What I meant was that given the fact that works that had been in the public domain were taken back under copyright protection, the law had to specify what would happen to those works which had been "exploited" during their time in the public domain.

Sparrow · 07-26-2009, 05:41 AM

Ah, I see - thanks for the clarification Harry.

Barcey · 07-28-2009, 06:46 PM

There was a transcript put up from the Vancouver meeting. (I was surprised that WDE wasn't quoted

) Warning it's very long.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/008.nsf/eng/00060.html

I was surprised to see the following comment from the Songwriters Association of Canada representative. I agree with him.

Quote:

About DRM, I think it’s really important to separate TPM’s, the technical protection measures from rights information management, RIM. We have no use for technical protection measures and the only reason we feel that way is because consumers have no use for them. They’ve shown that technical protection measures will stop them from buying product that they otherwise would buy. They’ve also had terrible experiences with things that it’s done to their machinery and their gear and what have you. Technical protection measures, the circumvention of them should not be a crime, we don’t believe that that should be, I don’t know if crime is the right word, but illegal or infringement or any of those kinds of activities.

However, rights information management which, RIM’s which basically allows a creator to put the information about who the creator is, what the name of the work is, other matter, who publishes the work, things that are useful that could be embedded in digital files of music, of course, those are good things and we think that they should not, you should not be able to destroy them. We agree that they should stay in place. They’re important and they don’t stop anyone from enjoying the music so they should be left there.

Wetdogeared · 07-28-2009, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barcey

There was a transcript put up from the Vancouver meeting. (I was surprised that WDE wasn't quoted

) Warning it's very long.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/008.nsf/eng/00060.html

That was very long. The "Unidentified Male: (inaudible)." was probably me.

WDE.

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07-25-2009, 12:36 PM	#2
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	There doesn't appear to be a lot of interest in this but Ars Technica has a piece on it. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...-copyright.ars There's also a daily summary here if anyone is interested. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/

07-25-2009, 01:24 PM	#3
Sparrow Wizard Posts: 4,395 Karma: 1358132 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3	I'm interested, and impressed the Canadian government has opened up the consultation to everyone. It will be interesting to see how the debate unfolds. Barcey.

07-25-2009, 04:08 PM	#5
BookLoverToo Enthusiast Posts: 40 Karma: 104 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have already submitted my two cents' worth... that IMHO, format shifting for personal use only after a legal purchase should be acceptable, even if it does require the removal of drm.

07-25-2009, 05:58 PM	#6
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	I should have mentioned the potential world wide implications. If Alex has to move the servers to another country there could be an extended MobileRead outage.

07-25-2009, 06:10 PM	#7
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	I wonder. When Australia moved from a life+fifty years to a life+70 years rule, all the works that were in the public domain stayed PD. In other words, the legislation was not restrospective. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_copyright_law

07-25-2009, 08:59 PM	#8
doreenjoy 01000100 01001010 Posts: 1,889 Karma: 2400000 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Polyamorous	changes to copyright law are very rarely retroactive. Just ask the heirs of George & Ira Gershwin.

07-26-2009, 05:32 AM	#12
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	You misunderstand me, Sparrow. What I meant was that given the fact that works that had been in the public domain were taken back under copyright protection, the law had to specify what would happen to those works which had been "exploited" during their time in the public domain.

07-26-2009, 05:41 AM	#13
Sparrow Wizard Posts: 4,395 Karma: 1358132 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3	Ah, I see - thanks for the clarification Harry.

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