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 →

Stationers

In a report published last week, members of the United Kingdom Parliament concluded that the Internet plays a major role in the radicalization of terrorists and called on the government to pressure Internet Service Providers in Britain and abroad to censor online speech. The Roots of Violent Radicalisation places the Internet ahead of prisons, universities, and religious establishments in propagating radical beliefs and ultimately recommends that the government “develop a code of practice for the removal of material which promotes violent extremism” binding ISPs.  Read more.

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 →

Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

On Monday evening, Access Copyright and the Universities of Western Ontario and Toronto announced that they have entered into a new licensing deal.  The UofT agreement is available below, and I was told that the terms of the agreement with Western are identical. Although the joint media release announcing the deal was gleeful, as a UofT Faculty member I am disappointed and concerned.  The agreement is one big step backwards for UofT, and one giant leap for Access Copyright.  Access Copyright could not have hoped for more, and UofT lost an opportunity to stand up, show leadership, and ensure that copyright …

Universities and Copyright: Contrast and Compare Read more →

Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

  The Copyright Board issued last week the following short decision, holding that there is no Crown Immunity in copyright: [1] Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and the territorial government of Nunavut (collectively the Objectors) rely on the principle of Crown immunity, as codified in section 17 of the Interpretation Act, to claim that the Copyright Act (the “Act”) does not apply to them and that, consequently, the tariffs proposed by Access Copyright in respect of Provincial and Territorial governments cannot bind them. [2] The Objectors’ claim for crown immunity is dismissed …

No Crown Immunity: Copyright Board Read more →

Blog, Copyright, Featured

Exactly one hundred years ago today, on December 16, 1911 the UK Copyright Act of 1911 received royal assent, and for the first time the principle of fair dealing became part of the imperial copyright legislation. Ten years later, the same fair dealing provision would appear in the Canadian Copyright Act of 1921 and would remain the basis of the current fair dealing provisions. Tragically, what was supposed to be an exercise in the codification of a dynamic and evolving common-law principle ended up—with a few notable exceptions—in a hundred years of solitude and stagnation.  A century later, this year might …

Fair Dealing’s 100 Years of Solitude Read more →

Antitrust / Competition Law, Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

Supporters of collective administration of copyrights often promote collectives as the silver bullet that solves copyright law’s underlying dilemma: how to provide incentives for creators, without unduly limiting access to protected works.  Collectives often argue that they do both.  This kind of argument was presented to the Supreme Court of Canada last week.  At the opening of his oral argument in the education fair dealing case, Access Copyright’s counsel asserted that the outcome of the case has no effect on students’ access to educational material.  “There’s no issue of access here”, he said.  “The students are going to get the material.  …

Access? Copyright! Read more →

Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

The Supreme Court of Canada heard five copyright cases over dense two-day hearings on Dec. 6-7.  One of the cases involved the application of the concept of fair dealing with copyrighted works in education.  At the heart of this appeal was a key distinction made by Copyright Board between copies of works made by students or at their initiative, which could be fair dealing, and copies made by a teacher for students with instructions to read them, which could not.  The distinction is summarized in para. 118 of the Board’s decision: a copy made by a teacher with instructions to …

Fair Dealing, Copyright, and the Haggadah Read more →

Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

UPDATE: The Court granted CILP’s motion for leave to intervene (as well as all other motions). Last Tuesday the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy (CILP) filed a motion for leave to intervene in the K-12 fair dealing case before the Supreme Court of Canada.  The motion was filed after the deadline of September 12, 2011, along with a request for an extension of time to do so, mainly on the basis that CILP had assumed that the proposed academic interveners, particularly the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), would adequately represent the interests of the university community …

CILP applies for Leave to Intervene in the K-12 Fair Dealing Case Read more →