p2pnet - rss feed: Will the sanity ever stop?
p2pnet.net News Feature:- “Oh Canada, will the sanity ever stop?”, asked professor Lawrence Lessig in April 2004, when a bill to extend copyright protection which would have benefited the heirs of Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maude Montgomery, was rejected by the House of Commons.
* On March 4, the Law Society of Upper Canada won a llong standing case against CCH Canadian Ltd, a decision seen as “the most important copyright case of the year” by professor Michael Geist.
* On March 31, Judge Von Finckenstein first ruled that putting music into a computer directory that might be shared remotely by someone else doesn’t constitute copyright infringement under current Canadian law. He thus rejected CRIA’s demand that Internet service providers identify 29 alleged file sharers.
* On June 30, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that ISPs are “intermediaries” who by such are held not liable for the transmission of copyrighted works, and thus shall not to pay SOCAN any fee for these transmissions.
* On December 16, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that no private copying levy could be applied on digital music players such as the iPod, since the wording of the Copyright Act does not specificaly cover the playing devices themselves.
Canada has been a leader in an emerging world of balanced copyright. But that could change.
On March 9, 2004, Liza Frulla, the new minister of Canadian heritage, said modernization of the Copyright Act is a top priority and implementation of the two 1996 WIPO treaties signed by Canada in 1997, but not ratified since then, is a, “major short-term issue” that should be handled within a couple years at most.
However, these are the self-same treaties that gave birth to America’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD).
“The legislation to permit ratification (should) be introduced in the House of Commons by February 2005″, said the heritage committee in April 2004. The following month, it issued its interim report on copyright reform with a series of highly criticized recommendations on:
- Private Copying and WIPO ratification
- Photographic Works
- Internet Service Providers Liability
- The Use of Internet Material For Educational Purposes
- Technology-Enhanced Learning
- Interliabrary Loans
” ‘The committee characterized these changes as ‘responsive to the needs of all Canadians’,” says the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) in its The Truth About Copyright Revision.
And, “The truth is that these proposed changes would drain millions of dollars from Canada’s provincial education systems, threaten national security research and personal privacy, harm Canadian culture by enlarging the billion dollar Canadian culture deficit, and put Canadian business at a competitive disadvantage,” it says on its petition page where people can express their concerns about the changes planed in the Canadian legislation.
“The committee spent little time debating the issues, and ignored concerns voiced by public interest advocates. Facing growing pressure from predominantly U.S. interests, Parliament is moving rapidly to embrace dangerous new rules.”
The Truth About Copyright Revision “is largely a response to the Heritage Committee’s Interim Report on Copyright reform”, CIPPIC’s lawyer David Fewer told me.
“A group of people concerned about the direction of copyright reform jointly drafted the ‘The Truth’,” he adds. “About 20 people had a say in the text.”
Fewer wants to make it clear that the text, already signed by a number of academics, “is not a ‘manifesto’ or ‘declaration’ per se, just a call for a wider perspective on the implications of a US-style rewriting of (Canadian) copyright laws”.
Drafted in November, The Truth is a general advocacy document meant to educate the public and parliamentarians on the implications of the proposals coming out of Heritage.
Will it have an impact?
“I hope so”, Fewer says. “A number of Parliamentarians have seen the document, and I know it has had an educational impact on at least a few occassions”.
Now, “The Canadian government must immediately stop proposed copyright changes until Parliament has heard from experts on education, security, privacy, small business, and consumer groups,” says CIPPIC on its petition site.
“Where changes to copyright laws are needed, Canada must adopt laws that serve Canadian interests first. Pressure from U.S. interests and proposals that primarily benefit foreign companies should be rejected.”
If you agree, head over to the site and add your name.
Guillaume Champeau - Ratiatum
