Broad-based coalition of oft-times sparring partners warns collectively against DMCA

Canada’s largest Internet service providers, broadcasters, retailers and public interest advocates have come together in a new coalition that sees sometime foes bed down with their sparring partners to advance their view of potential copyright reforms. On September 15, the Balanced Copyright Coalition (BCC) was announced with members including the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA), the Retail Council of Canada, Bell Canada, TELUS Corp., and lawyer Howard Knopf. PIAC lawyer Susan Lott concedes the coalition’s platform against the implementation of U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act-style legislation, the private copying levy, copyright term extensions, and the diminution of fair use rights and copyright exceptions looks like a mish-mash of individual member concerns. But she adds that the broader message is one in which the public interest is held to be as important as the position of intermediaries in current copyright discussions. For example, the coalition has adopted a position in favour of exemption from copyright for ISPs - a bugbear for groups such as the CCTA and the telcos. In a position paper submitted to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, the group writes: "The Coalition joins the hundreds of individual Canadians and organizations who filed submissions in 2001 urging the government not to follow the example of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the U.S. The rights and protections granted by the DMCA go far beyond the requirements of the (World Intellectual Property Organization treaties). This excessive approach severely limits public access to creative works; grants copyright protection to non-copyrighted material; erodes principles of fair use and exceptions to copyright; and places unnecessary and onerous burdens on service providers and other intermediaries. "The Coalition believes that Canada needs to take a much more moderate approach to Treaty implementation that protects the public interest. In particular the Coalition supports exemption from copyright liability for ISPs acting as intermediaries, and cautions against legal protection for overly restrictive technological protection measures that could restrict what is now completely legal activity." Observers will note that the position, while often argued by ISPs, has not previously been associated with such groups as the broadcasters. The same is true of other positions adopted by the coalition such as opposition to the private copying levy - usually associated with both CATA and the retailers - its rejection of copyright extension - a fight Knopf has personally undertaken in recent months - and advocacy for fair use and exceptions to copyright such as an exception for ephemeral recordings, which the CAB has consistently championed. But, Lott says, there are key areas in which the diverse members find common ground."What ties the coalition together is the concern we have that the careful balance that underlies copyright, between protection and access, is being tilted in the digital age towards protection. This affects both those that act as intermediaries for end-users to copyrighted content and the individual, end-users themselves. In this way, copyright in the digital age has created an unlikely mutuality of interests. "We want to ensure that important legal exemptions in the Act, such as fair dealing, are protected. We are concerned about how this balance is disappearing under the U.S. digital copyright legislation, the DMCA, and want to ensure that our government does not go that route." She adds: "The BCC was formed out of mutual interests of intermediaries and users of copyrighted material in the digital era to ensure that the federal government, in its most recent review of the Copyright Act, hears from both sides of the copyright debate. "There is a sense that the interests of the large copyright holders or content industries would be conveyed to the government and we wanted to ensure that a strong voice on the other side of the debate was heard by government." The Heritage committee has not yet begun hearings into ratification of the WIPO treaties, and one of its first actions when it finally meets is expected to be a request to Parliament for an extension for the process. The committee is currently due to report to the House of Commons with its finding in June 2004.A full copy of the Balanced Copyright Coalition’s submission to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage is available here.

Broad-based coalition of oft-times sparring partners warns collectively against DMCA

News | 09/26/2003 4:00 am EDT

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