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Canadian Federal Government Introduces New Copyright Bill
Bill C-60, an Act to amend the Copyright Act, received first reading in the House of Commons on June 20th, 2005. In the accompanying press release, the Canadian government stated that the Bill was the government's commitment to address short-term copyright reform issues and to update the Copyright Act to meet the challenges and opportunities of the Internet. "The legislation is intended to implement the provisions of the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaties, clarify liability for Internet service providers, facilitate the use of new technologies for educational and research purposes, and harmonize the treatment of photographers with that of other creators."
Aside from providing several new rights to copyright holders such as a reproduction right for performers, new moral rights for performances, the ability to control the first distribution of material in a tangible form, an adjustment in the term of protection for sound recordings, and removal of some provisions allowing photographers some rights in commissioned photographs, the key highlights of the bill include:
1.The introduction of the right of copyright holders to utilize protective rights management information and technological measures.
2.The making available amendment that revises the definition of telecommunication to the public to include "making a work available to the public in a way that allows members of the public to access it through telecommunication from a place and at a time individually chosen by them". In addition, the Bill proscribes several activities including making it illegal to circumvent or tamper with technological measures for the purpose of infringing copyright. The Bill also provides that the copyright holder has the exclusive right to decide who is allowed access to their material, possibly extending to prohibit typical illegal peer-to-peer sharing activities.
3.Exempting Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from liability for simply providing Internet-related services in the absence of actual knowledge of the copyright infringement, while at the same time requiring the ISPs to implement a "notice and notice" system where the ISPs would be responsible for forwarding notices received from a rights holder that a subscriber is hosting or sharing copyrighted material to that subscriber. In addition, the ISP must retain relevant information about the alleged infringement for a set period of time. If the ISPs fail to comply, then they are liable for statutory damages.
The Bill is expected to become law some time early next spring.
For a copy of Bill C-60, visit: