Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Copyright Law Blogs -> Michael Geist

Copyright Law

: Michael Geist

61 Reforms to C-61, Day 36: TPMs - No Identification of Authorized Circumventers

By Michael Geist

The removal of the provisions that target the legality of circumvention devices is one way to help ensure that the law does not eliminate basic copyright user rights.  There are other approaches, however, that can be introduced in tandem with that change. New Zealand's new copyright law introduces the concept of "qualified circumventers." The law grants special rights to trusted third parties who are permitted to circumvent on behalf of other users who are entitled to circumvent but technically unable to do so.  The current list of qualified circumventers includes librarians, archivists, and educational institutions. Section 226E(2) of the New Zealand law provides that

The user of a TPM work who wishes to exercise a permitted act under Part 3 but cannot practically do so because of a TPM may do either or both of the following:

(a) apply to the copyright owner or the exclusive licensee for assistance enabling the user to exercise the permitted act:
(b) engage a qualified person to exercise the permitted act on the user ’s behalf using a TPM circumvention device, but only if the copyright owner or the exclusive licensee has refused the user's request for assistance or has failed to respond to it within a reasonable time.

This approach rightly recognizes that many people will be unable to effectively use the exceptions inserted into the law.  By creating a class of trusted circumventers, the law creates at least one mechanism to ensure that users retain their existing copyright rights.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on August 11, 2008 (boomark / email).