How Will the Passage of Bill C-11, Canada’s Copyright Modernisation Act Affect You?
By Andrea Wahbe on Jul 6, 2012 / Categories: CDMN News, Featured
On June 29th, the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry, and the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, announced that Canada’s Copyright Modernisation Act, Bill C-11 received Royal Assent.
“Our Government recognizes the critical role that modern copyright laws play in protecting and creating jobs in Canada’s digital economy,” said Minister Paradis. “We have delivered on our commitment to modernize Canada’s copyright legislation and strike the right balance between the needs of creators and users.”
“This is the most comprehensive effort to modernize our copyright laws in over a decade,” said Minister Moore. “It is widely supported by creator groups, consumer organisations and the businesses that drive Canada’s economy.”
According to a recent article by Kevin Sartorio, Partner at Gowlings, some of the key areas of copyright reform will include:
- New digital piracy measures
Sartorio says “the Copyright Act will now prohibit any circumvention of technological protection measures used by rights-holders to secure and control their digital content,” whether by using such technologies or by providing circumvention services (which enable acts of copyright infringement) to others.
- ISPs and search-engines now have limited liability for copyright infringements committed by subscribers
This means that if a copyright owner discovers illegal use of their work, they can “send a notice of claimed infringement to an ISP or search-engine who are then obliged to forward it to the alleged infringer identified in the notice,” says Sartorio. “The ISP or search-engine will also be required to retain records relating to the alleged infringer’s identity for a period of time. The copyright owner must also obtain a court order before obtaining such identity information from the ISP or search-engine.”
- Exemptions for non-commercial use
The Copyright Act has been expanded to include the use of copyright material for education, parody or satire and to make it possible to use existing copyright works to create new, user-generated content (i.e. funny YouTube clips or mash-ups), as long as it is done for non-commercial purposes, the source of the original work is mentioned and the original work is does not infringe on any other copyright. Exemptions will also be made for the use of digital content and technology for education and training purposes. “Dealings with works for these purposes must still be ‘fair’ in all the circumstances,” says Sartorio.
- In addition, it will now be possible to make copies of a work for private use, as long as you “legally own an original copy of the work and don’t circumvent technological protection measures (i.e. unlock digital locks) when creating the copy, or give away the copy.” Satorio says that “time shifting, or making a copy for the purpose of viewing or listening at a later time, is also now expressly permitted, subject again to limitations, including that the recording is used only for private purposes and is not kept longer than reasonably necessary.”
Parliament will revisit the Copyright Act every five years, giving current and future Parliaments and governments the opportunity to amend copyright laws as new changes play out in our digital economy. The date of enforcement for Bill C-11 has not yet been determined.
How will Bill C-11 impact you? We want to hear your feedback. Please share your reactions to the Copyright Modernisation Act in the comments section below.