Crack the Coursepack is a public legal education project about Canadian copyright law, created in the context of Prof. Tina Piper’s Intellectual & Industrial Property class at the McGill Faculty of Law.
April 12, 2012
March 16, 2012
The first amendment moved during clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-11 was an NDP amendment to introduce resale rights (See March 12 minutes for exact wording). This is a policy that the Liberal party has supported in the past. The chair ruled the amendment inadmissible as it was a new concept that is beyond the scope of Bill C-11.
Before proponents of the resale right take that as a failure, the process needs to be looked at more closely. This is also a good time to more publicly discuss the policy being proposed. Multiple bills on the same topic are not admissible within the same session of parliament. When the chair ruled the amendment inadmissible, he was effectively also ruling that tabling that policy as a private members bill would be admissible within this session.
Would an art resale right be good policy?
January 18, 2012
Today many have been raising awareness of USA's SOPA and PIPA. I thought I would back up a bit from those specific initiatives, and discuss just how far apart people are on this type of policy.
January 9, 2012
I celebrated Public Domain Day by sending a letter to my MP (David McGuinty in Ottawa South) and Senators for Ontario and Ottawa to highlight the public domain and the separate problems of Paracopyright.
Meera Nair wrote an article on how this may be a short lived celebration in that there is a desire as part of Trans-Pacific Partnership to extend the term of copyright from death+50 to death+70 years.
January 1, 2012
I often joke that copyright policy is as complex, understood, and as exciting, as tax policy. Most Canadians would prefer not to talk of either, and those of us who find either exciting are in a small minority Holidays I reflect on this oddity, given my favorite topics are some of the least interesting for most people I would visit.
I thought it would be interesting to start 2012 with a discussion of other ways in which there are similarities between tax and copyright policy, and look at how politicians and other people treat each.
December 6, 2011
I visited the Supreme Court today as that series of Copyright related cases are being heard. Today we heard arguments from the appellants, respondents and intervenors in two cases: Entertainment Software Association, et al. v. Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, Rogers Communications Inc., et al. v. Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada and Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, et al. v. Bell Canada, et al.
While I found hearing the arguments first-hand in the court exciting, I won't be commenting on those arguments or the specifics of what is before the court. The court will be ruling on how these fact patterns are to be interpreted under current law (legislation and caselaw). Since Bill C-11 impacts the specific sections under discussion this interpretation of the law may be short lived. More interesting may be a discussion of the the underlying policy question , including what I wish the law would say, as opposed to what current law or C-11 says.
November 29, 2011
In the November 22'nd issue of StraightGoods, author John Degen discussed a possible renaming of the term "copyright" to "WorkRight" as a transition to thinking of a creative work as an act. He was echoing Abraham Drassinower, Associate Professor and Chair in Legal, Ethical and Cultural Implications of Technological Innovation in the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, who suggested that, "Unauthorized publication is wrongful because it is compelled speech."
The concept of "unauthorized publication" relates to a work that was not yet published, and is very different than the concept of copyright infringement which nearly always relates to published works. While copyright infringement or exceptions to copyright are nothing like being compelled to speak, I find the idea of moving away from discussing creativity as a form of property to being tied to authorship to be a very useful one.
August 29, 2011
The following was written as a response to an opinion piece by John Degen, where a shortform was submitted and published as a letter to the editor.
The underlying premise of John Degen’s article is sound. The Canadian Copyright act is excessively complex. With the tools to create and distribute creativity now in the hands (and pockets) of most students, the problem is getting worse as activities which many reasonably consider lawful are actually considered infringements under our outdated Copyright law. It is so bad that lawyers who are (or claim to be) copyright experts often disagree about what the current law says, so it is entirely unreasonable for students and professors to understand it.
This complexity and lack of clarity will induce students to infringe Copyright.
May 17, 2011
While I’ve not being asked yet, I thought I would offer the new NDP official opposition some advice that I believe is consistent with their stated values. I offered some advice for the Conservative majority government, and I hope the NDP will take those suggestions into account as well. I am available to meet with any caucus member to discuss this area of policy more.
Members of the new Official Opposition caucus had a press conference today where they discussed their arts and culture platform for the coming Parliament. The speakers included Charlie Angus (Timmins--James Bay), Tyrone Benskin (Jeanne-Le Ber), Andrew Cash (Davenport), and Pierre Nantel (Longueuil - Pierre-Boucher). I didn’t have a chance to view the press conference yet (I haven’t found an archive online), but have read the press release.
May 4, 2011
While I’ve not being asked yet, I thought I would offer the new majority government some advice that I believe is consistent with their stated values. All too often with the debates around technology law we see policies put forward that I’m concerned MPs haven’t given the time to understand how they interact with their own longer-standing values and experiences.
This is also an open invitation to any MP or MP staffer from any party to meet in Ottawa to discuss this area of policy. This isn’t sound-bite stuff that can be understood in only a few moments. While I’m a volunteer policy coordinator for a few technology related organizations, I would be meeting as a citizen who has spent much of the last decade dedicated to this area of policy.
April 29, 2011
Wikileaks released 1,800 cables on Canada on April 28. There are many focused on the US pressure on copyright and Michael Geist has published several posts based on those cables.
- Wikileaks Cables Show Massive U.S. Effort to Establish Canadian DMCA (main summary post)
- Wikileaks Cable Confirms Public Pressure Forced Delay of Canadian Copyright Bill in 2008
Wikileaks on CRIA and the U.S. Government: How They Combine to Lobby on Canadian Copyright
- Wikileaks Cable: CMPDA Supports Notice-and-Notice System
- Wikileaks Cable: What Makes for Good Canadian Heritage Minister
- A Wikileaks Cable to Call My Own
Drew Wilson reported on the cables, discussing some of the political impacts of the US influence as well as other Canadians who are speaking up.
April 21, 2011
The National Post had an interesting article today on the election and Elections Canada's increasingly futile attempt to try to keep a lid on election results across time zones.
It quotes Dan Zen, professor of interactive multimedia at Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning who said "There must be lots of options but I know one option that isn’t going to work is trying to enforce secrecy over Twitter and Facebook. That’s just not going to work, so expectation needs to change."
February 27, 2011
I was sent a link to some interesting Canadian Copyright debate related cartoons by Rob Labossiere. While I liked the cartoons, something said in the text around the cartoons caught my eye even more:
But it will be a shame if Bill C-32 is never passed, for two reasons, neither of which ironically has to do with the substance of it.
I saw something similar last evening when law professor Jeremy de Beer tweeted a link to a Globe and Mail article, adding "So now any new law is better than no new law?? Sad.".
January 21, 2011
This morning I presented an ethical copyright question to a long time outspoken commentator and strong copyright proponent, John Degen. To say we do not see eye to eye on copyright matters would be to severely understate the point. None the less I was sincerely interested in his perspective of this copyright scenario so I posted it to his blog.
November 28, 2010
Canadian copyright is excessively complex, and makes illegal things which most Canadians don't even believe are illegal when you tell them. Given this complexity and over-coverage, I believe nearly every Canadian infringes copyright many times a week.
There is a line that each of us draws that fits our sense of right and wrong. It sits somewhere between recording a television show to watch later, and mass producing videos to be sold for profit. Both of these activities are illegal under current Canadian law. Most Canadians believe the first is a perfectly legitimate activity, even if they are part of that small minority that realize it is illegal in Canada. Most Canadians believe the second is wrong, know it is illegal, and agree it should be illegal.
October 5, 2010
Professor Birgitte Andersen has posted a very interesting response to old-economy industry association critique of studies she has authored.
While focused on copyright, I found the section talking about evidence based policy making vs "intuition" to be useful for all political discussions.
Of course intuition has its place, e.g. for short-cuts or if we do not have concrete evidence to rely on. However, if we are unable or unwilling to free our minds, ‘intuition’ can also imprison our thought and lead to prejudice and ignorance.
For example, although the world seems to be flat (by pure intuition), then falling off the edge of a flat world is not among my fears! Similarly, although it seems that the sun rotates around the Earth (by pure intuition), then research has proven that it is the other way around. However, we shall not forget that after Galileo announced these research results, which were counter-intuitive for the general public and the belief of the Catholic Church, he was forced to retire as a scientist and live in house arrest.
A great essay from Canadian born science fiction author and human rights activist Cory Doctorow.
You know who peddles false hope to naive would-be artists? People who go around implying that but for all those internet pirates, there'd be full creative employment for all of us. That the reason artists earn so little is because our audiences can't be trusted, that once we get this pesky internet thing solved, there'll be jam tomorrow for everyone. If you want to damn someone for selling a bill of goods to creative people, go after the DRM vendors with their ridiculous claims about copy-proof files; go after the labels who say that wholesale lawsuits against fans on behalf of artists (where labels get to pocket the winnings) are good business; go after the studios who are suing to make it impossible for anyone to put independent video on the internet without a giant corporate legal budget.
September 18, 2010
The BSA (Business Software Alliance, or Bad Statistics Alliance, depending on who you talk to) have released yet another one of their comical studies. I have been very critical of these studies (See: Lies, Damned lies, and IIPA/BSA/etc statistics). What I recommend people do is skip to the methodology section and see what they are measuring, and decide for themselves whether what they are measuring is harmful or beneficial for the Canadian economy.
Brian Jackson wrote an article that quotes Michael Geist indicating the study was "shockingly misleading". I will go further and suggest that what the BSA is really asking for is a time machine, not copyright reform.
Read full article on IT World Canada >>
August 31, 2010
August 19, 2010
For those who did not know, Access Copyright, which represents a limited subset set of Canadian creators and publishers, has proposed (and will likely be granted) a yearly per-student fee for the use of photocopiers by schools. This increase will set the rate to $45 for Universities, and $35 for other educational institution, multiplied by the full time equivalents (FTE). (For details, read this PDF)
I have some sympathy for the economic situation these organizations find themselves in.
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While I have this sympathy, I don't see what this has to do with Copyright.
