Angus proposes copyright measures in House to ‘smoke out’ positions of government, parties

OTTAWA—NDP MP Charlie Angus proposed two key copyright measures in Parliament Tuesday that are expected to force the governing and opposition parties to stake out positions on divisive copyright reform issues. One measure is in Angus’ private members’ Bill C-499, tabled Tuesday, which proposes to adapt the Copyright Act’s private copying levy to digital music devices like iPods and mp3 players. The Conservative government quickly staked out territory against Angus’ bill Tuesday, calling it a “tax” on iPods. “I think it’s totally nonsensical,” Industry Minister Tony Clement told reporters on Parliament Hill. “We’re going to be opposing it.” Clement said he is against an “NDP plan to tax iPods, BlackBerrys and other portable devices,” which he called “180 degrees in the wrong direction.” The federal government established the levy in 1998 to legalize the private copying of music and compensate music rights holders for copying. The law currently applies a levy of 29 cents per blank CD, 24 cents per blank audiocassette, and 29 cents for a MiniDisc. “We've had this in place since the days of the cassette,” said Angus, his party’s digital affairs critic. “There is a lot of copying going on and artists should get a small amount to be paid back. It's a small fee.” Angus’ bill proposes adding “audio recording device” to section 79 of the Copyright Act, defined as “a device that contains a permanently embedded data storage medium, including solid state or hard disk, designed, manufactured and advertised for the purpose of copying sound recordings, excluding any prescribed kind of recording device.” “What solution is this government offering when we have a longstanding Canadian practice in place? Artists have to be paid,” Angus said. Private members’ bills rarely become law, but they can serve political objectives. Critics of the proposal have previously argued it could clarify music downloading on the peer-to-peer networks as legal. However parties other than the NDP support the idea. The Bloc Québécois moved a motion at the House heritage committee Tuesday that proposes the same amendment as Angus. With support from the NDP and Liberal members of the committee, the Bloc motion passed. The motion recommends that the government amend the Copyright Act “so that the definition of ‘audio recording medium’ extends to devices with internal memory, so that the levy on copying music will apply to digital music recorders as well, thereby entitling music creators to some compensation for the copies made of their work.” “This motion is now subject to debate in the House, but it cannot change the law. On the other hand, it represents at the same time a clear message to the Conservative government which is in the middle of reforming copyright law, and constitutes a symbolic victory for creators,” Bloc MP and party heritage critic Carole Lavallée said in a release. Angus also moved a motion Tuesday, M-506, to amend section 29 of the Copyright Act to expand its fair dealing provisions. He said he is “smoking out the government” for its positions on key copyright reform issues. Angus’ motion on fair dealing cannot change the law, but is expected to force the parties of the House to take positions on the issue. Canada’s fair dealing provisions in the Copyright Act create exceptions for dealing with copyrighted material. The exceptions outlined in the act include private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting. Angus’ motion proposes two key words, “such as,” in the list of fair dealing actions described in the Copyright Act—making the list illustrative instead of exhaustive. Angus’ motion proposes to replace section 29 of the Copyright Act with: “Fair dealing of a copyrighted work for purposes such as research, private study, criticism, news reporting or review, is not an infringement of copyright. 29.1 In determining whether the dealing made of a work in any particular case is fair dealing, the factors to be considered shall include: (a) the purpose of the dealing; (b) the character of the dealing; (c) the amount of the dealing; (d) alternatives to the dealing; (e) the nature of the work; and (f) the effect of the dealing on the work.” The NDP’s proposed change to fair dealing would expand the exemption for non-commercial copyright infringements to researchers, innovators, educators and the creative community when copyrighted material is used appropriately, an NDP release said. --with files from Jonathan Migneault sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Angus proposes copyright measures in House to ‘smoke out’ positions of government, parties

News | 03/16/2010 9:58 pm EDT

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