Canadian Copyright Law (Score 3, Informative)

The Felten v. RIAA item prodded me into finally taking a look at my own country's (Canada) efforts at amending it's copyright law to comply with the WIPO Copyright Treaty which Canada signed in December 1997.

I thought that Canadian Slashdot readers and Slashdot readers of other nationalities with an interest in the WCT, DMCA or other local equivalent might be interested in the following links:

http://www.pch.gc.ca/culture/cult_ind/wipodp_e.htm

(This is a paper prepared by consultants regarding what changes would need to be made to Canadian copyright law to comply with the WIPO Copyright Treaty.)

I think the section on Aricle 11 will be of particular interest to Slashdot readers. This paragraph caught my eye:

"In the case of devices, it may be difficult to prove contributory infringement in situations where it may not be demonstrated with certainty that such devices will be extensively used in contravention of any rights under copyright law. In addition, with the current wording of article 11 of the Treaty, unless it is very carefully drafted, a provision aimed at the devices used for by-passing technological measures may go beyond our obligations under the Treaty."

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/rp01100e.html

"Industry Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage are seeking comments regarding possible amendments to the Copyright Act with respect to the issues described in these two consultation documents. Canadians are invited to provide their comments by September 15, 2001."

The documents referred to are "Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues" and "Consultation Paper on the Application of the Copyright Act's Compulsory Retransmission Licence to the Internet"

"The deadline for submissions for both consultation papers has now passed with over 600 submissions received. Due to this overwhelming response, it has not been possible to post all submissions immediately upon receipt. Every attempt will be made to have all submissions posted as soon as possible. For this reason, we have therefore decided to extend the period for reply comments for both papers from October 5, 2001 to October 22, 2001. This should allow adequate time for you to provide your reply comments on the submissions."

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/rp01099e.html

(This is the paper "Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues" mentioned above.)

From section 4.2:

"Under these circumstances, the departments question whether it is possible to establish a legal framework which, on the one hand covers virtually all activities that undermine the use of technological measures, but at the same time continues to reflect the policy balance currently set out in the Act. Such a change in the Copyright Act could potentially result in a new right of access, the scope of which goes well beyond any existing right, and would represent a fundamental shift in Canadian copyright policy. It could serve to transform a measure designed for protection into a means of impeding legitimate uses."

"Technological devices can be used for both copyrighted and non-copyrighted material. Given this, what factors should be considered determinative in deciding whether circumvention and/or related activities (such as the manufacture or distribution of circumvention devices) ought to be dealt with in the context of the Copyright Act, as opposed to other legislation?"

As stated above, the deadline for comments on these papers is October 22, 2001, so have your say: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/rp01100e.html