Tag: Copyright Act

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Statutory Review of the Copyright Act – Education Sector Presents Evidence in the House of Commons

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology met with stakeholders from the post-secondary education sector yesterday as part of the 2018 Copyright Act review. Representatives from Universities Canada, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and Campus Stores Canada spoke with the committee about Indigenous knowledge, fair dealing, library consortia licensing, Access Copyright v York University, open access and public domain, among other issues.

Watch a replay here.

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Bill to amend the Copyright Act in support of persons with a disability is currently under review.

Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (access to copyrighted works or other subject-matter for persons with perceptual disabilities), is currently in its second reading in Senate. The Bill attempts to bring our Canadian Copyright Act into agreement with the 2013 Marakesh treaty  adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), of which Canada is a member.

The Bill adds/amends language around reproducing material in a “format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability”1 and its intent is to “facilitate access for such persons to copyrighted materials while ensuring that the interests of copyright owners are safeguarded“2. Part of this would be accomplished by strengthening the language around bypassing technological locks and border restrictions, when in support of persons with a disability.

Howard Knopf and Michel Geist have expressed concerns about the language around the definition of the “commercially available” exception in the Act.