Ariel Katz - Civilization is an open-source project

Statutory Review of the Copyright Act: My Testimony Before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage

On Dec 4, I appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, as part of the statutory review of the Copyright Act and its study on remuneration models for artists and creative industries. Here is my written testimony:

Good morning. My name is Ariel Katz. I am a law professor at the University of Toronto, where I hold the Innovation Chair Electronic Commerce. I am grateful for the opportunity to appear before you today.

In my comments today, I would like to focus on some of the ways in which copyright contributes to or detract from the remuneration of artists and creators. Read more ›

Statutory Review of the Copyright Act: My Testimony Before the House of Commons INDU Committee

On Dec 3, I appeared before the House of Common’s Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, as part of the statutory review of the Copyright Act. Here is my written testimony:

Good afternoon. My name is Ariel Katz. I am a law professor at the University of Toronto, where I hold the Innovation Chair Electronic Commerce. I am grateful for the opportunity to appear before you today.

In my comments today, I would like to focus on dispelling some of the misinformation about the application of copyright law and fair dealing in the educational sector. Read more ›

No Time for Tinkering: On Intellectual Property and NAFTA

Last year, I wrote the following essay, as part of a collection of essays, “NAFTA and the Knowledge Economy”, published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). The essay discusses what Canada’s approach to intellectual property in the context of the renegotiation of NAFTA should be. Since the issues are back at the table, I thought I’d post it again.

You can read it on CIGI’s website, download a pdf version, or simply scroll down. Read more ›

South Africa’s Proposed Copyright Fair Use Right Should Be a Model for the World

Sean Flynn, American University Washington College of Law
Michael W. Carroll, American University Washington College of Law
Peter Jaszi, American University Washington College of Law
Ariel Katz, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
Leandro Mendonça, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Cultural Production Department
Diane Peters, Creative Commons Corporation (HQ)
Allan Rocha de Souza, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ)

Copyright laws the world over are under massive pressure to reform to fit the digital environment. One key area often in need of reform is in the exceptions to copyright that enable the digital practices. Without exceptions, common practices may be illegal, such as sharing photos on social media, making technical copies to send and stream, and uploading excerpts to closed networks for student access.

None of these and dozens of other digital issues were considered when most of our laws were drafted in the 1970s. South Africa is on the cusp of reforming its law with a new hybrid exception that contains both a set of modern specific exceptions for various purposes and an open general exception that can be used to assess any use not specifically authorized.