Barry Sookman

Copyright, Intellectual Property, Computer, Internet, e-Commerce Law.

Posts Tagged ‘Fair Use’

UK: “not practical” to adopt US fair use

December 9th, 2011

The UK will not adopt US fair use. This was revealed in statements made by Baroness Wilcox, the UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Business, Innovation and Skills and John Alty, Chief Executive and Comptroller General, Intellectual Property Office, in testimony before the UK Business, Innovation and Skills Committee on November 15, 2011.

Here is a extract from the testimony.

Q219 Chair : At the time, there were assertions that companies such as Google would not start up in this country because of the UK copyright law. Do you still hold that theory now and will Government policy reflect that or accommodate Google?

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Posted in C-11, Copyright, Fair Dealing, Fair Use, fair dealing for education

Tags: canada fair dealing Fair Use UK

US court: Google book settlement not “fair, adequate and reasonable”

March 22nd, 2011

U.S. Judge Denny Chin released his decision today on whether to approve the class action settlement with Google involving the Google book scanning project. Judge Chin rejected the settlement as not being fair, adequate, and reasonable.

His 48 page reasons were summarized as follows:

While the digitization of books and the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many, the ASA would simply go too far. It would permit this class action – which was brought against defendant Google Inc. (“Google” )to challenge its scanning of books and display of “snippets” for on-line searching to implement a forward-looking business arrangement that would grant Google significant rights to exploit entire books, without permission of the copyright owners. Indeed, the ASA would give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case.

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Posted in Copyright, Fair Use, Google Book Scanning, book piracy

Tags: authors guild book scanning project Copyright Fair Use google

Copyright law 2010 –the year in review in Canada and around the world

January 13th, 2011

Here is a copy of the slides I used today at the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Intellectual Property Year in Review conference. The associated paper prepared in collaboration with Glen Bloom, and with the help of others, is available here.

My slides summarize the following copyright cases from Canada, Australia, UK, Ireland, Singapore, Europe and the USA:

Canada

Bell Canada v SOCAN (Tariff 22) 2010 FCA 220

Canadian Private Copying Collective v. J & E Media Inc., 2010 FC 102

Cheung v. Target Event Production Ltd., 2010 FCA 255

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Posted in Copyright, Fair Dealing, Presentations, Reproduction, authorization, communication to the public, fair dealing for education, human rights, idea expression dichotomy

Tags: authorization communication to the public Copyright fair dealing Fair Use idea expression dichotomy Reproduction

Separating facts from hype about C-32

September 27th, 2010

Some anti-copyright critics compare the proposed copyright amendments in Bill C-32 with the copyright laws of the US to argue that Canadian copyright law with Bill C-32 passed would be more restrictive than in the US. International comparisons of copyright laws can be a very useful tool to gauge how Canadian laws stack up with international standards and norms. Regrettably, anti-copyright advocates often make their case by inaccurately and misleadingly describing US law to make it look more permissive than it is and by describing Bill C-32 in ways that makes it appear more restrictive than it is. This makes it difficult for the vast majority of the public to really assess Bill C-32 and to make properly informed judgements about it.

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Posted in Copyright, Counterfeiting, Fair Dealing, Fair Use, Piracy, TPMs, WIPO Treaties, c-32, copyright reform, p2p piracy

Tags: C-11 c-32 Copyright copyright reform Counterfeiting digital locks fair dealing Fair Use geist notice and notice Piracy tpms

Are internet previews of music a fair dealing under copyright?

May 17th, 2010

Last week the Federal Court of Appeal released an important decision on the scope of the fair dealing exception in the judicial review in the SOCAN Tariff 22 case (2010 FCA 123). The issue before the Court was whether online music services have the benefit of the fair dealing exception in section 29 of the Copyright Act when they offer customers previews of music files of up to 30 seconds to help them select music to purchase. The Court, following the decision of the Copyright Board, ruled they do.

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Posted in Copyright, Fair Dealing, Fair Use

Tags: Copyright fair dealing Fair Use internet previews

Does Canada already have fair use?

March 22nd, 2010

It is well accepted that Canada’s Copyright Act permits certain fair dealings with works.These dealings, known as allowable purposes, permit fair copying and other dealings for the purposes of research, private study, criticism, review, and news reporting, if certain conditions associated with the exceptions are met. These fair dealing exceptions operate differently from “fair use” in the United States. In that country the allowable purposes listed in the U.S. Copyright Act are non-exclusive, leaving it open to the courts to determine on a case by case basis whether a particular dealing is allowable and fair.

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Posted in Copyright, Fair Dealing, Fair Use

Tags: Copyright copyright reform fair dealing Fair Use

Should Canada adopt “fair use” as proposed by NDP MP Charlie Angus?

March 18th, 2010

Earlier this week, Charlie Angus introduced an amendment to the Copyright Act to expand the fair dealing exemption to include, in essence, any fair use with a work. While the amendment would add only a few words to the Act, it would radically reshape the copyright balance in Canada-to the ultimate detriment of our Canadian cultural industries, those that work and depend on them, and the Canadian public as a whole.

Charlie Angus’ proposed amendment reads as follows:

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Posted in Copyright, Fair Dealing, Fair Use

Tags: charlie angus copyright reform fair dealing Fair Use

Reflections on the liberal roundtable on the digital economy

February 17th, 2010

Last week, Liberal Industry critic Marc Garneau and Heritage critic Pablo Rodriguez hosted a roundtable on the digital economy in Ottawa. There were two panels. One was on our modern digital infrastructure. The other one was on copyright, broadcasting and the Internet. I participated in the copyright roundtable along with representatives from the ESAC, ACTRA, Rogers and Prof. Geist.

I commend Messrs. Garneau and Rodriguez for organizing this event. Developing a strategy for Canada’s digital future is a critical component of ensuring prosperity and opportunities for all Canadians.

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Posted in Copyright, Digital Britain, Fair Dealing, Fair Use, Graduated Response, ISP Liability, Piracy, Presentations, TPMs, Three Strikes, WIPO Treaties

Tags: Copyright copyright reform Fair Use geist Graduated Response three strikes fair dealing

More Fickle than Fair: Why Canada Should Not Adopt A Fair Use Regime

November 22nd, 2009

Article from The Lawyers Weekly. November 20, 2009, by Barry Sookman and Dan Glover

In July, the Canadian government launched a nationwide consultation on copyright modernization, asking Canadians what changes should be made to the Copyright Act to best foster innovation, creativity, competition and investment, and position Canada as a leader in the global, digital economy.

During this process, advocates of copyright liberalization have called to replace Canada’s longstanding fair dealing provisions with a general fair use provision. In Canada, fair dealing is a defence to an infringement claim that allows a person to use copyright fairly for certain identified purposes. In the United States, that person is able to contend that any use is fair.

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Posted in Copyright, Fair Dealing, Fair Use

Tags: Copyright copyright reform fair dealing Fair Use

OHRLP publishes leading submissions to the copyright consultations

November 16th, 2009

The Osgoode Hall Review of Law and Policy has published 9 submissions covering divergent views on how the Copyright Act should be modernized.

The articles include submissions from Michael Geist, David Allsebrook, Sam Trowsow, The Writers Guild of Canada, Canadian Association of Research Libraries, Entertainment Software Association, and Laura Murray. The issue also includes my submission to the copyright consultations as well as a submission written by Dan Glover and me on Why Canada should not adopt a fair use regime. This submission was jointly submitted to the copyright consultations by over fifty prominent Canadian organizations, who represent hundreds of thousands of artists, choreographers, composers, directors, educators, illustrators, journalists, makers, musicians, performers, photographers, playwrights, producers, publishers, song writers, videographers, and writers working in Canada.