Showing posts with label copyright. Show all posts
Monday, May 7, 2018
Fair Dealing Week 2018 Recap
On February 28, 2018, the University of Alberta’s Copyright Office hosted a day-long event in celebration of Fair Dealing Week, an initiative by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). More background information about the event is available here. The event featured four speakers from various disciplines, who talked about the impact and importance of Fair Dealing as a user right in the Canadian Copyright Act.
“Fair Dealing on Trial”
Speaker: Lisa Di Valentinohttp://dx.doi.org/10.7939/R3TH8C24W
Lisa Di Valentino travelled all the way from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to discuss the importance of Fair Dealing in education, and the facts and outcome of the recent decision in the Access Copyright v York University case. She assured the crowd that even though she has now moved to the United States and works within the Fair Use system, “wherever I go, I bring Fair Dealing with me. It’s forever in my heart.”
This discussion was followed by a spirited Q and A, which emphasized the need for users and creators alike to come together to voice their copyright needs and concerns as we enter the review period of the Canadian Copyright Act.
http://dx.doi.org/10.7939/R3PV6BN2K
The director of the University of Alberta’s Copyright Office, Adrian Sheppard, delivered a talk on the necessity of having, as well as possible issues and areas for improvement when using, institutional Fair Dealing Guidelines.
Adrian stated that guidelines can always be improved, and reviewing them (when the time is right) makes good sense. Adrian emphasized that the guidelines were not intended as a substitute for a fair dealing analysis, but rather were intended to offer a quick and easy guide to determine fairness across a broad range of likely cases in a particular context (such as at a post-secondary institution). Guidelines are only intended as a shortcut; fairness remains the standard. He outlined certain situations in which the AUCC fair dealing guidelines may not always yield a fair outcome (such as when applying a 10% or one chapter guideline to an anthology of complete plays), questioned whether fiction and non-fiction, or scholarly and popular works, should be dealt with in the same way under the guidelines, and explored the difficulty of trying to develop a simple, easy to apply, set of guidelines that would appropriately address 100% of copying done on behalf of an institution. If there cannot be a perfect set of guidelines, how good is good enough?
http://dx.doi.org/10.7939/R3B853Z2C
Chris George, president of an Ottawa public relations firm and a registered lobbyist for the Council of Minister of Education, Canada (CMEC) Copyright Consortium, travelled from Ottawa to showcase the conversation about copyright currently underway on Parliament Hill, and to highlight what is and what isn’t being discussed. Chris suggested that it’s those acting on behalf of the creators (such as big academic publishers, or the Access Copyright collective) who are making the most noise, seeking changes to the Copyright Act that limit, or even eliminate, the educational exception in the fair dealing provision, which could effectively reverse 10 years of legal decisions, and cancel out existing fair dealing guidelines. Chris stated the importance of helping MPs understand that fair dealing is not a blank cheque and the fair dealing guidelines set reasonable conditions, and students across Canada greatly benefit from the access to educational content allowed by this provision..
Michael McNally finished the day with a simple call-to-action: get involved! As the 2017/2018 5-year statutory review of the Copyright Act commences, Michael stressed the importance (and rising trend) of making your voice heard through public engagement, as the government actively wants to listen to people, and not just corporations and other established voices. Copyright affects us all in that we are both creators and users, and as much as creators are incentivised to participate, users must also contribute their voices, as copyright is as much a user right as it is a creator’s right.
There is real value in participating in this review and consultation, and it’s fun to engage in intellectual battle! Start writing to your MP’s now; even if you have only one strong argument to contribute, or if you simply agree with other prominent voices in the Canadian copyright landscape, it’s important to make your opinion heard.
“Fair Dealing Guidelines Forum”
Speaker: Adrian Sheppardhttp://dx.doi.org/10.7939/R3PV6BN2K
The director of the University of Alberta’s Copyright Office, Adrian Sheppard, delivered a talk on the necessity of having, as well as possible issues and areas for improvement when using, institutional Fair Dealing Guidelines.
Adrian stated that guidelines can always be improved, and reviewing them (when the time is right) makes good sense. Adrian emphasized that the guidelines were not intended as a substitute for a fair dealing analysis, but rather were intended to offer a quick and easy guide to determine fairness across a broad range of likely cases in a particular context (such as at a post-secondary institution). Guidelines are only intended as a shortcut; fairness remains the standard. He outlined certain situations in which the AUCC fair dealing guidelines may not always yield a fair outcome (such as when applying a 10% or one chapter guideline to an anthology of complete plays), questioned whether fiction and non-fiction, or scholarly and popular works, should be dealt with in the same way under the guidelines, and explored the difficulty of trying to develop a simple, easy to apply, set of guidelines that would appropriately address 100% of copying done on behalf of an institution. If there cannot be a perfect set of guidelines, how good is good enough?
“Today’s Fair Dealing Discussion in Federal Parliament”
Speaker: Chris Georgehttp://dx.doi.org/10.7939/R3B853Z2C
Chris George, president of an Ottawa public relations firm and a registered lobbyist for the Council of Minister of Education, Canada (CMEC) Copyright Consortium, travelled from Ottawa to showcase the conversation about copyright currently underway on Parliament Hill, and to highlight what is and what isn’t being discussed. Chris suggested that it’s those acting on behalf of the creators (such as big academic publishers, or the Access Copyright collective) who are making the most noise, seeking changes to the Copyright Act that limit, or even eliminate, the educational exception in the fair dealing provision, which could effectively reverse 10 years of legal decisions, and cancel out existing fair dealing guidelines. Chris stated the importance of helping MPs understand that fair dealing is not a blank cheque and the fair dealing guidelines set reasonable conditions, and students across Canada greatly benefit from the access to educational content allowed by this provision..
“How You Can Contribute to the 2017/2018 Canadian Copyright Act Review”
Speaker: Michael McNallyMichael McNally finished the day with a simple call-to-action: get involved! As the 2017/2018 5-year statutory review of the Copyright Act commences, Michael stressed the importance (and rising trend) of making your voice heard through public engagement, as the government actively wants to listen to people, and not just corporations and other established voices. Copyright affects us all in that we are both creators and users, and as much as creators are incentivised to participate, users must also contribute their voices, as copyright is as much a user right as it is a creator’s right.
There is real value in participating in this review and consultation, and it’s fun to engage in intellectual battle! Start writing to your MP’s now; even if you have only one strong argument to contribute, or if you simply agree with other prominent voices in the Canadian copyright landscape, it’s important to make your opinion heard.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Fair Dealing Week and the Review of the Copyright Act
This is a critical time for those who benefit from educational fair dealing to ensure their perspectives are heard and to ensure that those conducting the review appreciate the broad public interest in a robust fair dealing provision.
Fair dealing allows for the limited use of copyright-protected materials without permission from or payment to the rights-holder.
The purposes under which fair dealing can be applied are: research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism and news reporting. If you can make a compelling case that a particular use of a copyright-protected work is for one of these purposes and that the use is fair, then that use is permissible under fair dealing.
Fair dealing is used routinely by students and faculty members in a large number of ways, including copying journal articles or excerpts from books (for private study or research), as well as by the institution through providing access to copies of such articles or book excerpts to registered students through a course pack or on eClass (for education).
If you value the preservation of fair dealing in general and for post-secondary education in particular, make sure your voice is heard. Don’t sit on the sidelines and allow fair dealing to be weakened, upsetting the balance of copyright law in Canada. More information about how to become involved in the review process will be shared as soon as the details have been announced.
Fair Dealing Week 2018 will run from February 26 to March 2. In recognition, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is collecting fair dealing testimonials. If you have a story about your experience with fair dealing and how you and the public benefit from it, please consider submitting a testimonial.
Additionally, the University of Alberta Copyright Office is hosting an event on Wednesday, February 28, also as part of Fair Dealing Week. More information about that event and how to register to attend is available here.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
A Simple Fix for Cringeworthy Crown Copyright
There’s a provision in Canada’s Copyright Act that makes University of Alberta Copyright Librarian, Amanda Wakaruk, cringe. The clause (section 12 of the Act), states that:
Without prejudice to any rights or privileges of the Crown, where any work is, or has been, prepared or published by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or any government department, the copyright in the work shall, subject to any agreement with the author, belong to Her Majesty and in that case shall continue for the remainder of the calendar year of the first publication of the work and for a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year.After multiple years of experiencing difficulty gaining permission for institutions like the U of A Libraries to digitally harvest and distribute publicly accessible government documents for research and study, Wakaruk has channelled her observations and angst about Crown Copyright into a House of Commons e-petition, sponsored by Saskatoon West MP, Sheri Benson.
The premise of the petition - that information created and published by a government should be accessible to its people - is not unusual. In the United States, federal government publications have been in the public domain since the 1890s. And although the United Kingdom has retained its Crown Copyright provision, the provision has been updated and the country allows broad use and sharing of most public government publications under the terms of an Open Government Licence. Canada’s equivalent federal licence is more restrictive and applied inconsistently across government agencies. In Canada, Crown Copyright remains a significant barrier for institutions and individuals who need to use and reuse Canadian parliamentary proceedings, government reports, press releases, and statistical publications. Researchers and librarians are frustrated by the inconsistent interpretation of section 12 by government employees and by having to ask for permission to use these works in ways that should be not only allowed but encouraged in a liberal democracy.
The solution to fix Crown Copyright is simple: the petition calls for the addition of a clause (12.1) that removes copyright protection for government works once they’ve been made publicly available.
Wakaruk sees an important role for librarians in critiquing government information policy and how it affects the public good, and she’s not alone. Her petition is being supported by organizations and individuals from across Canada, and had gained over 1000 signatures at the time of this post.
Happy to announce @CC_Canada will endorse @awakaruk's work in 👑© as one of our pillar activities. Find out more fixcrowncopyright.ca pic.twitter.com/QeKqBXm3rY— CC Canada (@CC_Canada) August 22, 2017
Amanda Wakaruk makes strong case for crown copyright reform. CAUT will push this issue in 2017 copyright review #abccopyright2017— CAUT (@CAUT_ACPPU) June 30, 2017
For more information about Crown Copyright, and to view the e-Petition, which closes on September 23, visit www.fixcrowncopyright.ca.
More information about Amanda’s work on this issue can be found here: https://sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/wakaruk/presentations.
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