Government Announces Proposed Copyright Amendments
Everyone's been waiting for this.
Earlier today, the Canadian government tabled its Response to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage May 2004 Interim Report on Copyright Reform.
Topics covered include WIPO treaties, ISP liability and educational access issues.
Government initiatives on this front are being closely monitored by the "Copyright Forum", a group of 16 institutional members in the fields of education, libraries, museums and archives. The Forum has been worried for some time that amendments would be unbalanced against the interest of "users".
University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist has posted some analysis of the government response. He suggests that the protests by user groups have succeeded for now in getting the government to reintroduce some semblance of balance between users and rights holder groups and commercial interests.
Geist writes that the federal response "represents a major shift away from the embarrassingly one-sided Canadian Heritage Standing Committee recommendations issued last May. While that report clearly pushed the agenda forward, the government’s response has certainly recognized the need for some balance".
ITbusiness.ca commented that the Canadian proposals are veering away from the totally pro-industry U.S. approach.
Earlier today, the Canadian government tabled its Response to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage May 2004 Interim Report on Copyright Reform.
Topics covered include WIPO treaties, ISP liability and educational access issues.
Government initiatives on this front are being closely monitored by the "Copyright Forum", a group of 16 institutional members in the fields of education, libraries, museums and archives. The Forum has been worried for some time that amendments would be unbalanced against the interest of "users".
University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist has posted some analysis of the government response. He suggests that the protests by user groups have succeeded for now in getting the government to reintroduce some semblance of balance between users and rights holder groups and commercial interests.
Geist writes that the federal response "represents a major shift away from the embarrassingly one-sided Canadian Heritage Standing Committee recommendations issued last May. While that report clearly pushed the agenda forward, the government’s response has certainly recognized the need for some balance".
ITbusiness.ca commented that the Canadian proposals are veering away from the totally pro-industry U.S. approach.
Labels: copyright, government of Canada
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