One copyright portal announced, two to come
A consortium made up of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), Digital Content Management Services, and Calgary-based RightsMarket Inc. is the first to announce funding from Canadian Heritage to develop a copyright clearance web portal. The portal will be used to clear music copyrights in Canada, and $787,392 has been awarded by the department to complete the first year of project deliverables. Portal users will find a single clearance centre, determine which licences they require, pay the prescribed fees, and be granted rights to copyright-protected material. It is generally expected that the rights clearinghouse will be generally available over the Internet in 2002. 
Announcement of the portal marks the first of three expected launches, with film and print yet to be disclosed. SOCAN’s involvement in this initiative comes as no surprise. In late January, Canadian Heritage new media chief René Bouchard told a Toronto briefing that each of the copyright portal initiatives would likely involve the major collectives (CNM, Feb. 7/02). More details.