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Liberals Preparing C-32 Amendments on Digital Locks & Fair Dealing

By Michael Geist

The Wire Report reports that the Liberals are preparing amendments to Bill C-32 to address digital locks and fair dealing.  The digital lock reforms will apparently address the consumer rights concerns, as Garneau notes in the article that "we believe that if somebody has legitimately bought a work and wants to transfer it to another device for personal use only, that should be allowed." In order to ensure that consumers have those rights, it would be necessary to both remove the digital lock restrictions in the consumer provisions and amend the general anti-circumvention provision (to do one without the other would still leave consumers locked out).

Garneau also said that the Liberals are considering a reform proposal to the fair dealing provision, by adding a list of factors to help courts determine whether the uses are "fair."  Garneau noted that the Supreme Court of Canada has established these factors which could be used to help clarify the limits of fair dealing.  As I wrote earlier this month, this kind of codification is precisely the sort of compromise that could provide groups concerned with the fair dealing changes the necessary assurances on its limits.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on November 26, 2010 (boomark / email).