Copyright Legislation Update

Last week, the government tabled Bill C-11, a re-introduction of Bill C-32 that was originally introduced in June 2010.

See the CSBA copyright page for CSBA’s 2010 submission to Canadian Parliament.

Although there are many provisions in the Copyright Modernization Act that improve and modernize copyright issues, such as expanding the fair dealing provisions for the purposes of education, there is concern and opposition over the use of digital locks, which has implications for Canadian education. The digital locks provisions, among the most restrictive globally, provide enhanced legal protections for the use of DVDs, CDs, and electronic books. Essentially, these digital lock provisions can override educational fair dealing-prohibiting teachers to copy, share and print material accessible from the internet for educational purposes in the classroom.

Many in the education community have criticized the government for not including an exemption that would allow for the bypassing of digital locks for legitimate purposes.

For more information on how proposed copyright legislation and digital lock provisions affect users of digital content, including the education sector, see:

• Huff Post Politics Canada
• Michael Geist’s blog
• Speak out on Copyright
• Government of Canada: balanced copyright.