Category: Copyright Collectives

By Posted on Posted in Antitrust / Competition Law, Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

Barry Sookman’s blog features a post titled “Renewed Attacks on the “Effect on the Market” Factor” and written by his associate Dan Glover. The post opens with an inappropriate and inaccurate ad hominem attack on Howard Knopf and Michael Geist, both of whom he accuses of being on a “crusade to open Canadian copyright law so wide that a convoy of army trucks filled with textbooks and DVDs could drive through it”. Why? Because “they are suggesting that Parliament not clarify that “the effect of the dealing on the market for the original work” is the pre-eminent factor in the fair …

Let’s Talk about the “Effect on the Market”. Seriously. Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Antitrust / Competition Law, Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

Two issues, fair dealing and digital locks, have attracted most of the attention in the debates about Bill C-11. Little or no attention has been given to a few provisions in the Bill, especially the proposed subsections 30.02(6), (7) and (8), which are buried within a highly obscure and technical part of the Bill. These provisions constitute one of the greatest and boldest copyright grabs in Canadian copyright history. So this post is dedicated to this copyright grab and the organization behind it. It is about a corporation whose business model is based on encouraging a large scale unauthorized use …

Bill C-11 and the Big Access Copyright Grab Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured, Stationers

The University of Toronto Students’ Union, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union, and the University of Toronto Faculty Association have just sent a letter to the University Governing Council protesting the UofT – Access Copyright Agreement. They urge the Governors to “suspend any further step towards ratification of the Agreement until the Agreement has been thoroughly reviewed, and, if appropriate, re-negotiated or discarded.” Update: Canadian Federation of Students sent a letter too.  

By Posted on Posted in Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured, Stationers

The European Court of Justice rendered another decision today protecting users’ online freedoms.  The decision in SABAM v. Netlog arises out of a dispute between a Belgian copyright collective and an operator of a social network.  This is an important ruling when legislators around the world consider various initiative that would grant governments and private entities increasing powers to monitor and control content and online communications.  The circumstances of the case also bear some resemblance to the contested relationships between Access Copyright and Canadian universities.  Indeed, in defence of its disputed decision to sign an agreement with the publishers’ collective, …

EU Court of Justice Rules Out Private and Automatic Censorship (and Lessons for UofT) Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

In addition to serious copyright, privacy, and academic freedom problems arising from the Agreement signed last week between UofT and Access Copyright, the way it has been handled so far raises some questions about whether it is consistent with UofT’s governance procedures. No serious consultation or discussion has taken place before the Agreement was signed, although, interestingly, s. 22 of the Agreement does contemplate it being conditional upon “applicable Governance approval”.  It seems only natural that an agreement with wide, deep, and long-term implication such as this one would be subject to governance approval, yet it is less clear that UofT’s …

Governance Issues: The UofT-Access Copyright Agreement Read more »