{"id":1587,"date":"2021-09-11T09:55:57","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T13:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/?p=1587"},"modified":"2021-09-11T09:55:59","modified_gmt":"2021-09-11T13:55:59","slug":"flawed-law-flawed-framework-copyright-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/flawed-law-flawed-framework-copyright-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"Flawed law, flawed framework: Copyright ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Media Release from Canadian Authors Association<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently issued its long and anxiously awaited decision in the\u00a0York University vs. Access Copyright<\/em>\u00a0case, a decision creators hoped would first, reverse the Federal Court of Appeal\u2019s 2020 ruling that Copyright Board-sanctioned tariffs are not mandatory, and second, affirm the lower federal courts\u2019 ruling that neither York University\u2019s fair dealing policy nor its actual practices constitute fair dealing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court of Canada did neither.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian Authors Association (CAA) is dismayed with the SCC ruling, deeply disheartened that the nation\u2019s top court did not achieve any true balance between creator rights and user rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the issue of whether tariffs are mandatory, the SCC said it agreed with the Federal Court of Appeal that Copyright Board-approved tariffs \u201care voluntary for users. If a user who chooses not to be licensed under a tariff makes an unauthorized use of a work, the remedy is an infringement action which Access Copyright does not have standing to assert because it does not own the copyright.\u201d In other words, in almost all cases, it would be up to the individual author of the infringed work to sue the university for damages.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is simply not financially feasible for individuals to sue institutions such as universities or boards of education for copyright infringement,\u201d said Anita Purcell, CAA\u2019s executive director. \u201cThis is the reason that copyright collectives are set up. This is the reason that the Copyright Board sets tariffs for users.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SCC observed that Parliament could amend the current wording on the law regarding the voluntary nature of tariffs. For this reason, CAA exhorts the federal government to immediately address this flawed law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe federal government could easily correct the law,\u201d said CAA co-chair Karen Gansel. \u201cThe federal government is interested in a modern copyright framework, and an enforceable tariff is clearly a part of that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the issue of whether York University\u2019s policy and practices constitute fair dealing, the SCC did not disturb the lower federal courts\u2019 rulings and therefore, York\u2019s guidelines do not suffice. However, in\u00a0obiter dicta<\/em>,\u00a0i.e.,<\/em>\u00a0commentary that is not legally binding, the court stated it did not endorse the legal reasoning used by the lower courts in a particular analysis. It said: \u201cAt the end of the day, the question in a case involving a university\u2019s fair dealing practices is whether those practices actualize the students\u2019 right to receive course material for educational purposes in a fair manner, consistent with the underlying balance between users\u2019 rights and creators\u2019 rights in the [Copyright<\/em>]\u00a0Act. Since we are not deciding the merits of the fair dealing appeal brought by York, there is no reason to answer the question in this case.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the law undermines the ability of writers to earn an income from writing \u2014 for example, when Copyright Board-sanctioned tariffs are ruled to be voluntary instead of mandatory \u2014 writers are disabled from creating.\u00a0When the law forces individual writers to go to court against large institutions, writers\u2019 works can be copied without compensation, and therefore, writers are exploited. They are discouraged from creating. Surely the federal government is interested in ensuring that literature continues to express national culture, heritage, values and issues, and therefore promoting the ability of writers to create.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAA applauds the federal government\u2019s ongoing consultation process to ensure a modern copyright framework. In keeping with its demonstrated interest in strengthening copyright law, the government could readily repair the system to reward creators for creating, and its first step in doing so is to amend the flawed law concerning tariff enforceability.\u00a0A century-old membership-based national organization for writers at all stages of their writing careers, CAA is deeply concerned about the nation\u2019s long-term cultural prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian Authors Association (CAA) was founded in 1921 with a goal of lobbying for the protection of authors\u2019 rights and fostering a sense of cultural and literary solidarity among Canadian writers. Today, CAA and its branches continue to work to provide aspiring, emerging, and professional writers across all genres and writing professions the programs, services, and resources they need to develop their skills, promote their work, and enhance their ability to earn a living as a writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media Release from Canadian Authors Association The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently issued its long and anxiously awaited decision in the\u00a0York University vs. Access Copyright\u00a0case, a decision creators hoped would first, reverse the Federal Court of Appeal\u2019s 2020 ruling that Copyright Board-sanctioned tariffs are not mandatory, and second, affirm…<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[32,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-1587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ottawa-writers","7":"tag-copyright","8":"tag-professional-writers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1588,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587\/revisions\/1588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianauthors.org\/nationalcapitalregion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}