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

Copyright Law

: Michael Geist

61 Reforms to C-61, Day 56: Interlibrary Digital Loans Must Self-Destruct In Five Days

By Michael Geist

Bill C-61's library provisions are not confined to e-reserves.  The bill adds a new Section 30.2(5.01) to the Copyright Act that is designed to facilitate digital distribution of materials for interlibrary loans.  The section states:

A library, archive or museum, or a person acting under the authority of one, may, under subsection (5), make a copy of printed matter in digital form and provide it to a person who has requested it through another library,
archive or museum if the providing library, archive or museum or person takes measures to prevent the person who has requested it from

(a) making any reproduction of the digital copy, including any paper copies, other than printing one copy of it;
(b) communicating the digital copy to any other person; and
(c) using the digital copy for more than five business days

While moving toward digital interlibrary loans has obvious advantages (speed and cost being at the top of the list), this provision once again forces libraries to implement DRM-based solutions.  The requirements that limit further copying and distribution go far beyond what is necessary (they are presumably a response to the unlikely scenario that only a single Canadian library will purchase the copy of a work and use digital distribution to cover the rest of the country).  Even worse is the requirement to destroy the digital copy within five days (this is actually a reduction from seven days in the Liberal's C-60).  There are no similar requirements for paper-based copies of works and it makes no sense to force libraries to install DRM protections on digital copies to create time-limited uses.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on September 08, 2008 (boomark / email).