Canadian copyright shakeup: proposals for meaningful, pro-user copyright reforms

Michael Geist sez, "Canadian New Democratic Party MP Charlie Angus [ed: former frontman for punk greats L'Etranger] has shaken up the copyright reform process today with a pair of proposed measures. The first is a private member's bill that would expand the scope of the private copying levy [ed: the fee Canadians pay on top of blank media, in exchange for which they gain the right to make "private copies" of copyrighted works without breaking the law] to include digital audio recorders (DARs) such as iPods. Bill C-499 comes as a response to earlier court cases that ruled that DARs are beyond the scope of the current law. The second is a planned motion that calls for support to reform the Copyright Act's fair dealing [ed: akin to US fair use] provision by adding the words 'such as' to make the current list of fair dealing categories illustrative rather than exhaustive [ed: meaning that courts could look at new technologies and the copyright uses they enable and make case-by-case decisions about whether they should be allowed, without having to wait for Parliament to pass a new law every time a new technology is invented]. In addition, the motion codifies the six criteria discussed in Canadian caselaw for determining whether a particular use of a work qualifies as fair dealing."

Michael's post has good analysis of these proposals, which are both really strong, and what problems might arise from the levy if Parliament gets it wrong. Read his post for more.


Angus Introducing Private Copying Levy Bill, Flexible Fair Dealing Motion

(Thanks, Michael!)