Some interesting proposals will soon be under discussion at the World Intellectual Property Organization that could free libraries, archives, educational and research institutions, and people with disabilities from copyright provisions that hamper their ability to make use of copyright works. Read my full post about the upcoming meeting on WIPOMonitor.org here.
Showing posts with label DRM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DRM. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Canadian copyright reform for people with print-disabilities
Yesterday Industry Minister Candice Bergen introduced Bill C-65, the Support for Canadians with Print Disabilities Act for first reading in Canadian Parliament. The Act will allow Canada to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled.
Among other things, the bill would allow non-profit organizations acting for the benefit of persons with a print disability to create accessible-format works and provide those works (or access to those works) to people with print disabilities and to non-profit organizations acting for their benefit outside of Canada (s. 32.01 (1)) on payment of royalties set by regulation (s. 32.01 (4)). It would also allow the circumvention of TPMs for these purposes (s. 41.16). The Act sets out reporting requirements (32.01(6)) and requirements that contracts be put in place with outside organizations regarding the use of the works (32.01(7)(a)).
This is a welcome move. It would facilitate access to books and other copyright materials around the world, allowing Canadian organizations to work with their counterparts in other countries to make works accessible. It would also make Canada the first G7 country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty.
Among other things, the bill would allow non-profit organizations acting for the benefit of persons with a print disability to create accessible-format works and provide those works (or access to those works) to people with print disabilities and to non-profit organizations acting for their benefit outside of Canada (s. 32.01 (1)) on payment of royalties set by regulation (s. 32.01 (4)). It would also allow the circumvention of TPMs for these purposes (s. 41.16). The Act sets out reporting requirements (32.01(6)) and requirements that contracts be put in place with outside organizations regarding the use of the works (32.01(7)(a)).
This is a welcome move. It would facilitate access to books and other copyright materials around the world, allowing Canadian organizations to work with their counterparts in other countries to make works accessible. It would also make Canada the first G7 country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Canada stands up for visually impaired access
Jamie Love of Knowledge Ecology International reports that Canada, along with 16 other countries, is backing measures that would allow the visually impaired to break digital locks in order to have access to copyright works. The United States, which proposes more restrictive measures on digital locks, is now isolated, according to Love.
This is an excellent move by Canada and the 16 others that is consistent with Canadian provisions that allow the circumvention of TPMs by the perceptually impaired or those working on their behalf.
This move is made in the context of the currently-underway Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities. See also my posts here and here.
This is an excellent move by Canada and the 16 others that is consistent with Canadian provisions that allow the circumvention of TPMs by the perceptually impaired or those working on their behalf.
This move is made in the context of the currently-underway Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities. See also my posts here and here.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
A Balancing Act for the Blind and Visually Impaired
On Monday June 17, a diplomatic conference will be held to negotiate a treaty/international instrument that would allow accessible-format works to be exported from country to country. Intended to address the problem that currently only 5% of copyright works are currently available in accessible format. Copyright law in many countries currently prohibits the export of copyright works, including accessible-format works. This creates a situation where works must be separately converted to accessible formats in each country, or where separate permissions must be requested for each country to create or export the works, inhibiting the flow of accessible-format works around the world.
Recently, I noted that the negotiations have entered troubled waters. Media conglomerates, copyright lobby groups, the Obama administration, and the European Commission have sought to weaken or derail the treaty.
The Canadian government continues to stress "balance" in copyright as a way of navigating this issue. It claims that the current Canadian copyright law, which does contains export measures for the visually impaired, is "balanced". Indeed, Canada was the first country in the world to put in place such provisions, including provisions that allow the circumvention of TPMs by the perceptually impaired or those working on their behalf. However, the idea that copyright is "balanced" in addressing the interests of the visually impaired is contentious, as the question of balance always is. Canada’s act regarding the export of accessible works applies only to works by Canadian authors, does not apply to large print books or cinematographic works, does not apply if the work is reasonably available in the destination country, and sets out various other restrictions.
The idea that copyright is currently "balanced" in addressing the interests of the visually impaired is often questioned. Only 5% of works are accessible to the visually impaired...this is is not balance. Canada should not take any action that will allow a different or better balance to be achieved in the future by enshrining restrictive or highly bureaucratic measures in an international treaty.
Two groups are especially affected by visual impairments: children and the elderly. This is an issue that affects us all, when we're old and when we're young. It also affects disproportionately those living in developing countries. I want to be able to read when I'm old. I want my friends in developing countries to be able to too. I want Canadian negotiators to stand up and make sure that happens.
As I said in a January 2011 op-ed in The Hill Times, Canada could do more. It could enable less restrictive laws around the world, ensuring that the perceptually impaired can circumvent TPMs in order to be able to access works. This is an opportunity for Canada to show leadership and vision, and to emphatically insist on the fullest and most meaningful access for the visually impaired, unimpeded by TPMs or by other restrictive measures. Canada's position should be based on preserving this policy flexibility for a future of fuller access for everyone.
[corrected June 14 2013][revised June 16 2013]
Recently, I noted that the negotiations have entered troubled waters. Media conglomerates, copyright lobby groups, the Obama administration, and the European Commission have sought to weaken or derail the treaty.
The Canadian government continues to stress "balance" in copyright as a way of navigating this issue. It claims that the current Canadian copyright law, which does contains export measures for the visually impaired, is "balanced". Indeed, Canada was the first country in the world to put in place such provisions, including provisions that allow the circumvention of TPMs by the perceptually impaired or those working on their behalf. However, the idea that copyright is "balanced" in addressing the interests of the visually impaired is contentious, as the question of balance always is. Canada’s act regarding the export of accessible works applies only to works by Canadian authors, does not apply to large print books or cinematographic works, does not apply if the work is reasonably available in the destination country, and sets out various other restrictions.
The idea that copyright is currently "balanced" in addressing the interests of the visually impaired is often questioned. Only 5% of works are accessible to the visually impaired...this is is not balance. Canada should not take any action that will allow a different or better balance to be achieved in the future by enshrining restrictive or highly bureaucratic measures in an international treaty.
Two groups are especially affected by visual impairments: children and the elderly. This is an issue that affects us all, when we're old and when we're young. It also affects disproportionately those living in developing countries. I want to be able to read when I'm old. I want my friends in developing countries to be able to too. I want Canadian negotiators to stand up and make sure that happens.
As I said in a January 2011 op-ed in The Hill Times, Canada could do more. It could enable less restrictive laws around the world, ensuring that the perceptually impaired can circumvent TPMs in order to be able to access works. This is an opportunity for Canada to show leadership and vision, and to emphatically insist on the fullest and most meaningful access for the visually impaired, unimpeded by TPMs or by other restrictive measures. Canada's position should be based on preserving this policy flexibility for a future of fuller access for everyone.
[corrected June 14 2013][revised June 16 2013]
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
New Cdn Copyright Act: The future of teaching and learning in Canada
Canada's new Copyright Act passed third reading (158 to 135) in the House of Commons and first reading in the Senate yesterday, and is expected to receive final approval soon.
What does Canada's new bill mean for the future of teaching and learning in Canada?
Some Canadian universities are, however, not yet displaying such confidence as they sign on to pay higher copyright fees to Access Copyright, seemingly paying more where less is now required. They do this despite arguments from a number of prominent lawyers that "such a license is unnecessary, because educators are already permitted to copy approximately that amount without a license under existing Canadian law, or at least they will be upon the passage of Bill C-11."
Educational institutions should stand up not just as defenders of copyright, but also as defenders of the freedoms and rights granted to educators and students under the newly updated copyright law.
What does Canada's new bill mean for the future of teaching and learning in Canada?
- Fair dealing. The new act creates a fair dealing exception for education: "Fair dealing for the purpose of research, private study, education, parody or satire does not infringe copyright." For educational institutions, this is the most powerful provision of the new act, and has been one of the most controversial. In the past, courts have ruled that copies made for the purposes of research were legal. Copies made for the purposes of education, where deemed to be fair, will also now be legal. Geist notes that in the United States, fair use includes making multiple copies for classroom use. However, some universities may sign on to copyright agreements that restrict the new fair dealing rights of their educational communities.
- Digital copies. The new act clarifies that digital copies of works - scans or digital files - can be made in the same manner that one might make photocopies of a work, with royalties being paid as they were with photocopies. However, the new act only allows a person under an educational institution to print this copy once. Lost your copy? Spilled your coffee? The act requires universities to prevent a second copy from being made.
- Works available on the Internet. The new act allows educational institutions to use works available on the Internet without fear of infringement, unless they should have known that the work was put up on the Internet without consent of the copyright holder.
- Displaying works, news programs, and showing movies and documentaries. The new act ensures that it's legal to display a work in the classroom, and removes some of the onerous requirements that had been placed on teachers and professors under the old act, making it easier to play a news program or news commentary program for the class. It also ensures that it's legal to show a movie or a documentary, as long as the copy itself is legit.
- Distance education. The bill ensures that it's legal to reproduce works in the context of distance education. In this, Canada catches up to the United States, which provided similar provisions in 1976 (the same year that it encoded fair use). In this, Canada rounds out an era of reforms begun in the '80s, addressing an issue that had been on the table for a long time and had not, until now, been addressed. A distance learning student can now, for example, record a lesson to listen to later. This comes with the incredible requirement that reproductions of lessons be later destroyed by both the student and the educational institution.
- Digital locks. Unfortunately, e-book texts that students may have purchased may die with the technology they were purchased for. Moving on from your kindle? If your text is locked to the kindle, it will not be legal to circumvent the locks to transfer the book onto your new device. Much of the knowledge that students gain comes from their textbooks, and some good textbooks are references for life. Unfortunately, students will lose the e-book texts they purchased, wich often cost just as much as regular print versions. Goodbye lifetime reference and life-long learning.
Some Canadian universities are, however, not yet displaying such confidence as they sign on to pay higher copyright fees to Access Copyright, seemingly paying more where less is now required. They do this despite arguments from a number of prominent lawyers that "such a license is unnecessary, because educators are already permitted to copy approximately that amount without a license under existing Canadian law, or at least they will be upon the passage of Bill C-11."
Educational institutions should stand up not just as defenders of copyright, but also as defenders of the freedoms and rights granted to educators and students under the newly updated copyright law.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Turning tide? E-book text-to-speech exception
The Daily Finance has an article on how the Library of Congress' recent ruling allows the circumvention of digital locks in order to use ebook text-to-speech features. Kevin Smith thinks the latest rulemaking represents a turning of the tide in US copyright policy.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Free & Legal
A very interesting development: Universal Music is supporting a free download service called SpiralFrog. The service will work on an advertising model rather than a pay-per-download model. Read about it in the Financial Times: Universal backs free music rival to iTunes
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
France and iTunes
The French National Assembly has voted in favour of legislation that will require companies like itunes to open their standards, allowing other music players to play itunes music, and allowing other providers to make music available in ipod format.
The Financial Times published an editorial today condemning the legislation. FT argues that it is the business of market competition, not government, to decide whether open standards are used - that, if consumers want open standards, they will buy from companies that have open standards.
For consumers, the issue of open standards is only one of a number of factors considered in purchasing decisions. Consumers cannot be relied upon to put their purchasing power behind open standards and competition; that is how monopolies happen. Consumers will likely prefer open standards and competition, but that is no guarantee that companies offering open standards will be able to offer a product that is, in the balance of all factors consumers consider, the most competetive.
Governments are able to make longer-term structural decisions about markets and competition that are not considered by consumers visiting itunes to buy the latest hit.
One of the likely results of open standards in content provision is more competition. One of the effects of competition in content provision could be lower prices for content. Lower prices could lead to consumers placing a lower value on content. The Financial Times itself is a content provider. Just an observation.
The Financial Times published an editorial today condemning the legislation. FT argues that it is the business of market competition, not government, to decide whether open standards are used - that, if consumers want open standards, they will buy from companies that have open standards.
For consumers, the issue of open standards is only one of a number of factors considered in purchasing decisions. Consumers cannot be relied upon to put their purchasing power behind open standards and competition; that is how monopolies happen. Consumers will likely prefer open standards and competition, but that is no guarantee that companies offering open standards will be able to offer a product that is, in the balance of all factors consumers consider, the most competetive.
Governments are able to make longer-term structural decisions about markets and competition that are not considered by consumers visiting itunes to buy the latest hit.
One of the likely results of open standards in content provision is more competition. One of the effects of competition in content provision could be lower prices for content. Lower prices could lead to consumers placing a lower value on content. The Financial Times itself is a content provider. Just an observation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)