Canadian Copyright Act

Consider these questions as you review the examples below. Try the quiz from the left menu: What Have You Learned? after you’ve spent some time with this section.

The Statutes of Canada states, “Whereas the Copyright Act is an important marketplace framework law and cultural policy instrument that, through clear, predictable and fair rules, supports creativity and innovation and affects many sectors of the knowledge economy…Whereas in the current digital era copyright protection is enhanced when countries adopt coordinated approaches, based on internationally recognized norms.” In response to such technological innovations, new bills were proposed for insertion into the existing copyright act. To date, these have been controversial and sparked much debate across Canada. The current version of the Act was assented to on 29th of June, 2012.

The director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers released a short video explaining some of the key successes and failures of the new copyright act. The concept of a “digital lock” is new in Canadian copyright. This pertains to legally downloaded material as well as physically purchased goods. A digital lock is part of digital rights management designed to protect the creators of digital media. Many argue that these protections are too strong and hurt others who wish to reference these works.

• Copyright can greatly impact the way you publish or share your work. Before creating and using digital content be sure to review UBC’s copyright FAQ page.
• It is important to be aware of proposed changes to the copyright act because this may affect what you can do digitally in the future. Blogger Michael Geist regularly writes about the newest developments in copyright.

For questions on ‘fair dealing’, copying, scanning and/or digitizing information for online coursework, be sure to check the Copying and Scanning at UBC guide and UBC’s copyright FAQ page. CBC Radio also has a excellent interview with David Fewer of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic listen here.