Canadian Writers Speak Out on Copyright

Nino Ricci and five other prominent Canadian writers launched a new video on Youtube today called "Canadian Writers Speak Out on Copyright" in response to Bill C-32, the federal government's proposed new copyright legislation.

"Strong copyright protections are fundamental to a writer's ability to make a living," says Ricci. "But C-32 needs serious revision so that it does not severely damage writing and publishing in this country."

Alan Cumyn (Chair of the Writers Union and featured in this video) was inspired to create the video when hundreds of Canada's most prominent professional writers signed full-page ads in The Globe and Mail and The Hill Times in November registering their concerns over C-32. "The  professional writing community is galvanized over this bill," said Cumyn. "The new legislation, which is supposed to protect our work, has so many holes in it we'll be in court for years trying to figure out what it all means."

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As far as I know, the

As far as I know, the educational exemption would not involve wholesale free use of entire works. It is not as if entire essays, books, or novels would be given to students for free, thus depriving writers of income. It would simply add educators to the list of people who are allowed to use brief quotations without paying. Journalists and critics can already do this, as well as select others, I think, but currently teachers cannot, which seems ridiculous.

The use of select quotations or excerpts is hardly going to deny writers the money they deserve for their work, since the select quotations must not comprise a significant portion of the work. If anything, I think being exposed to a part of a longer work (a section of an essay, a chapter of a novel), is more likely to get a student to go out and search for the full length item, and possibly buy it.

There are problems with the copyright bill, there is no question. But this is not one of them. It is simply misleading for this video to suggest that it would allow wholesale use of work without compensation.

Brandon more than 12 years ago

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