Library Associations Respond to Canadian Government Consultation on Copyright Term Extension

Yesterday, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries and the Canadian Federation of Library Associations released a joint response to the Government of Canada’s Consultation Paper on copyright term extension. 

The response was also endorsed by the Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC) and the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL).

Under the new Canada US Mexico Trade Agreement, Canada has agreed to extend, by the end of 2022, its general copyright term of protection from 50 to 70 years after the life of the author.

The Consultation Paper outlined 5 options.

The associations' response favours Option 3:

"which would allow non-profit libraries, archives and museums (LAMs) to use out-of-commerce and orphan works subject to claims for equitable remuneration. Further, the library community recommends including legislative amendments to the definition of commercial availability in the Copyright Act (the Act) and limiting liability for libraries that are making these works available to the public. We also believe that the government should combine Option 3 with Option 5 (creating exceptions for the use of works 100 years after their creation by LAMs) to ensure the broadest public benefit without causing harm to copyright owners."

They also support the following ideas:

• Amend Section 29 of the Copyright Act to make the list of purposes allowable under the fair dealing exception an illustrative list rather than an exhaustive one
• Establish a scheme of limited liability for libraries, archives and museums for use of orphan and out-of-commerce works.
• Amend the Copyright Act to make it clear that no exception to copyright can be waived or overridden by contract
• Amend the Copyright Act  to make it clear that no exception to copyright can be waived or overridden by contract and that Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) can be circumvented for non-Infringing purposes.
• Address the need to respect Indigenous Knowledges.
• Find a solution to allow for digitization of unpublished works.
• Assign a Creative Commons licence to all publicly available federal government publications.
• Extend Options 3 and 5 to apply to educational institutions and other non-profit organizations.