Canadian Government Reintroduces Copyright Amendment Legislation

Late last week, the Canadian government introduced the Copyright Modernization Act.

It is identical to proposed legislation that died on the order table when the last Parliament was dissolved for the May 2011 elections.

This is the fifth attempt in less than a decade to update Canada's copyright law.

• Government backgrounder : "Librarians will be allowed to digitize print material and then send a copy electronically to a library client through an interlibrary loan. The requesting client could either view the material on a computer or print one copy. Libraries, archives, and museums will be permitted to make copies of copyrighted material in an alternative format if there is a concern that the original is in a format that is in danger of becoming obsolete. "
• Copyright changes: how they'll affect users of digital content (CBC News, September 30, 2011): "If passed in its current form, the Copyright Modernization Act will allow Canadians to: (...) Use copyrighted content for the purposes of education, satire or parody. This expands what is known as the fair dealing provisions of the existing law — which until now covered only research, private study, criticism and news reporting (...) The new law will also: Prohibit the circumventing of digital locks, even for legal purposes — such as the education or satire uses protected by other sections of the Act. This is one of the most controversial parts of the legislation. Many experts have criticized the government for not including an exemption that would allow for the bypassing of digital locks for legitimate purposes, such as the copying of parts of digitally locked textbooks to view on another device or for use in an assignment."
• University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist's blog comments on the bill