Canadian Artists Call for Copyright Reform

A coalition of leading Canadian musicians has entered the copyright reform debate with a call for the government not to facilitate the prosecution of file down-loaders nor to provide legal support for digital locks. The Canadian Music Creators Coalition (CMCC) advocates elimination of the current statutory damages provision of the Copyright Act, rejection of new provisions to prevent circumvention of technological protection measures, and the broadening of the "fair dealing" provisions to become closer to the US "fair use" approach. The CMCC implicitly rejects the private copying levy to the extent it relates to consumers copying music they have paid for, but it supports the levy in principle as one method of compensating artists for file sharing. The CMCC position is inconsistent with the WIPO Internet Treaties (Treaties), which Canada has signed but not yet implemented. This comes only one month after Prof Tom Flanagan, a leading Conservative Party strategist, came out strongly against restricting file sharing, suggesting Canada should reconsider the ratification of the Treaties. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party Canadian heritage critic, Mauril Bélanger, has urged the Conservative government to amend the Copyright Act to comply with the Treaties. Since Bill C-60 died on the Order Paper when the recent federal election was called in November, 2005 ( see E-TIPS®, Vol 4, No 1, July 6, 2005, "Further Reflections on Bill C-60 " for earlier commentary on Bill C-60), the status of copyright reform is unclear. Prior to the release of the CMCC paper, Heritage Minister Bev Oda indicated that the Conservative Government will introduce a new copyright bill. However, she did not say when, nor did she make it clear whether it would be compliant with the WIPO treaties. Given that copyright reform is not one of the new Government's five key priorities and was not mentioned in the Throne Speech, observers do not expect it to be forthcoming in the spring session of Parliament. For the full text of the CMCC position paper, see: http://www.musiccreators.ca/docs/A_New_Voice-Policy_Paper.pdf For related commentary see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z3572551D; and http://makeashorterlink.com/?R2773151D; and http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q1872151D Summary by: Tom Feather