Legal Research

Canadian Copyright consultations begin

By David Canton

The Federal government has just launched public consultations intended to lead to a new copyright reform bill. The last few attempts to revise copyright law have not become law – but have been highly controversial. This is an important topic that affects things we do every day. The difficult part is striking the right balance between the entertainment industry desire to charge for and control everything, and the consumer expectation of getting everything free all the time. Past efforts have not accomplished that balance, and in some ways took a step backwards by being stuck in a digital time warp.

These consultations will be over quickly – so if you want your position heard – now?s the time. Indeed – the speed at which these have been announced and will be over – and during the summer months – has been criticised.

See the government?s Copyright Consultations web site for more details. Also keep an eye on Michael Geist?s site, ( FWIW, I tend to agree with Michael’s thoughts in that linked post) and Howard Knopf’s site for their thoughts as this unfolds.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on July 22, 2009 (boomark / email).