The Petition for Users’ Rights is being circulated for presentation to Parliament. Whether you agree or disagree with this petition, there is no doubt that most Canadians are unaware of the intricacies of copyright law. Here is the petition’s text:
To the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled
We, the undersigned residents of Canada draw attention of the House to the following:
THAT the Copyright Act is properly recognised as being a careful balance between the rights of
creators and the rights of the public (including viewers, readers and listeners);
THAT the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously affirmed this view in CCH Canadian Ltd v Law
Society of Upper Canada;
THAT digital technologies have recently given copyright holders the ability to upset the balance in the
Copyright Act by preventing Canadians from accessing works for purposes that have been legally
granted to them;
THAT the creation of original works is nourished by wide accessibility of earlier works, including a
vibrant public domain;
THAT dissemination of cultural ideas requires that they be preserved in a form that is accessible to
future generations; and
THAT historically consultations regarding changes to the Copyright Act have mostly taken place with
creators, intermediaries and only some special users (such as educators and librarians)
THEREFORE, your petitioners call upon Parliament to ensure generally that users are recognised as
interested parties and are meaningfully consulted about proposed changes to the Copyright Act and to
ensure in particular that any changes at least preserve all existing users’ rights, including the right to use
copyrighted materials under Fair Dealing and the right to make private copies of audio recordings. We
further call upon Parliament not to extend the term of copyright; and to recognise the right of citizens to
personally control their own communication devices.
We, the undersigned residents of Canada draw attention of the House to the following:
THAT the Copyright Act is properly recognised as being a careful balance between the rights of
creators and the rights of the public (including viewers, readers and listeners);
THAT the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously affirmed this view in CCH Canadian Ltd v Law
Society of Upper Canada;
THAT digital technologies have recently given copyright holders the ability to upset the balance in the
Copyright Act by preventing Canadians from accessing works for purposes that have been legally
granted to them;
THAT the creation of original works is nourished by wide accessibility of earlier works, including a
vibrant public domain;
THAT dissemination of cultural ideas requires that they be preserved in a form that is accessible to
future generations; and
THAT historically consultations regarding changes to the Copyright Act have mostly taken place with
creators, intermediaries and only some special users (such as educators and librarians)
THEREFORE, your petitioners call upon Parliament to ensure generally that users are recognised as
interested parties and are meaningfully consulted about proposed changes to the Copyright Act and to
ensure in particular that any changes at least preserve all existing users’ rights, including the right to use
copyrighted materials under Fair Dealing and the right to make private copies of audio recordings. We
further call upon Parliament not to extend the term of copyright; and to recognise the right of citizens to
personally control their own communication devices.
For further reading go to iCommons Canada, Creative Commons or my previous post on copyright in education.
[Also, here is a UK perspective on music and copyright.]
Via Steve.
