Cheers and jeers for copyright reform agenda proposal tabled with Parliament

Industry Canada, working in cooperation with Canadian Heritage, has tabled a controversial new report with a recommended time frame for dealing with digital copyright issues. The report, mandated by Parliament in the 1997 Bill C-32 copyright reform process, has surprised some, angered others, and left experts unsure whether Ottawa can accomplish its goals in the stated time frames.Some major broadcaster issues likely won't be on the table in copyright reform talks for at least another two years as the government focuses on more pressing issues including ISP liability, photography, technological protection measures and others.Among changes to the copyright regime being sought by the broadcast community to deal with recent digital technologies are a new ephemeral reproduction exemption and stronger protection for broadcast signals. Neither item is on the agenda, however, until the government has dealt with a first group of reforms expected to take about two years. Those first items include the digital copyright issues raised in a consultation document released in June 2001 (CNM, June 28/01). These include access and education issues, unpublished works, and a new copyright scheme for the works of photographers.When those primary issues are settled, the government has proposed working on Crown copyright, collective rights management, the term of protection, the private copying regime, and the ephemeral recording exception. When the second group of reforms are dealt with, it's anticipated that the government will be able to legislate on a third group of topics comprising traditional Aboriginal knowledge, databases, performers' rights, signal rights for broadcasters, as well as further efforts to clarify and simplify the Copyright Act.The proposed timeline is part of a new report by the departments titled Supporting Culture and Innovation: Report on the Provisions and Operation of the Copyright Act. The report, which was mandated by section 92 of the Copyright Act as amended by Bill C-32 in 1997, identifies dozens of areas where changes to the regime have been requested by Canadian stakeholders.Photographers have reacted positively to news that their concerns will be dealt with in the short term. For years, they have been urging Ottawa to remove sections 13(1) and (2) and 10(2) from the Copyright Act. Those sections deny photographers copyright ownership in their work if they don't own the negative. The sections are at odds with regimes in other countries, and Canadian ratification of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties would require their elimination (CNM, Dec. 13/01)Randy Harquail, president of the Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators in Communications - a partner in the Canadian Photographers Coalition, which has been lobbying with Temple Scott for legislative changes - says he's pleased with the result, but that work remains."The photographers are pleased that the section 92 report recognizes that all photography issues need to be addressed as a high priority," he tells Canadian NEW MEDIA. "It has taken a lot of hard work by our members and we have had a lot of support from members of Parliament and Senators to get this far. We must now press the government to make sure that these changes happen. We want to see the repeal of sections 10(2) and 13(2) in new legislation as soon as possible. We will be calling on the ministers of Canadian Heritage and Industry, as well as members of Parliament, to make this overdue change happen."Less happy are broadcasters, who see a key legislative change on copyright left off the table until at least 2004. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has been quietly pushing for a new exception for ephemeral recordings. At issue are proposed tariffs that would see radio stations pay music companies for temporary copies of songs stored in the normal course of broadcasting - fees broadcasters could avoid by rewriting the Copyright Act.Erica Redler, general counsel and senior VP of policy & legal affairs for the CAB, says she's disappointed that the matter's been put off."The CAB is very pleased that the issue has been identified as one which requires reform, but we are disappointed that it is not being dealt with in the first phase of reform," she tells CNM. "We believe the issue is as urgent and important as the WIPO treaties. The issue is one which is well-defined and well-understood by government officials and Parliamentarians and would require little further research of analysis. Amendment of these sections of the Act requires only that there be recognition that the provisions passed in Bill C-32 did not provide the relief for broadcasters that was intended. This became clear when (the Société du droit de reproduction des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs au Canada and the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency) filed tariffs - in the amount of more than $16 million - for making technical copies of recordings for broadcast purposes."While some observers have noted that the two-year time frame for pushing through legislation on digital copyright issues in the first round seems ambitious, Bruce Stockfish, director general of the copyright branch at Canadian Heritage (which co-produced the report), says the deadlines are realistic."There are optimists and there are pessimists. We have to try to be realists. We think it's a realistic agenda. It is our short-term agenda, and is consistent with the framework for copyright reform that we announced. It's not another phase of copyright reform. It's not another C-32. We've already started the reform process, the consultation process. We've done a lot of the ground work already."Yes, there will be some additional issues in the package, but a lot of the broad work for the main issues has been done. We think it's realistic to pull this together as part of the short-term package. That's not to say there won't be difficulties, and we'll deal with them as they come along. But that's the agenda that we've set for ourselves," Stockfish says."Everyone would like their issues pushed up. The whole point of the copyright framework that we set out is to take it on a staged basis. This is the package that we've proposed for now. We'll assess and if other matters become urgent for any variety of reasons, if the environment changes, political will may change, there could be litigation, there could be changed resources, and we may have to stand down some issues if we don't have the resources to pursue them."Ambitious scheduleOthers, however, aren't so sure. Internet regulatory expert Michael Geist says the departments may be reaching too far."The timelines are clearly ambitious," Geist tells CNM. "Digital copyright issues alone are likely to take considerable time given the critical issues involved. Assuming that the digital copyright issues remain at the forefront, it may push some of the other initiatives - even those targeted for short-term activity - to a later date."Geist says several ongoing copyright battles now being waged in Canada and the U.S. could change the departments' plans, such as the outcome of the Eldred case in the United States, the leave to appeal on Tariff 22 filed by the Canadian Cable Television Association and others now before the Supreme Court of Canada (CNM, Aug. 21/02), and the Copyright Board of Canada's hearing into the private copying regime (CNM, Aug. 21/02).

Cheers and jeers for copyright reform agenda proposal tabled with Parliament

News | 10/16/2002 4:00 am EDT

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