Negotiators have adopted the “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled”. The Treaty addresses making copyright protected literary works available to the visually impaired. It will enter into force after it has been ratified by 20 WIPO members that agree to be bound by its provisions.
Tag Archives: Copyright
Copyright Re-sale Rights
A private members Bill has received first reading in parliament that would amend the Copyright Act to include artist re-sale rights. Bill C-516, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (artist’s resale right), was introduced on May 29, 2013.
UK enacts “Instagram Act”
Last week, the UK parliament enacted legislation directed to the licensing of orphan works. Regulations will be introduced later to address the details of the scheme.
Access Copyright and Fair Dealing
Today’s litigation started against York University listed below is apparently one part of three measures started today by Access Copyright: a) the litigation in the Federal Court challenging York University’s fair dealing guidelines; b) an application with the Copyright Board for an interim elementary and secondary school education tariff; and c) a proposed post‐secondary tariff also filed with the Copyright Board for 2014-2017.
isoHunt found to infringe
The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld summary judgment against isoHunt, a Canada based BitTorrent search engine, for contributory copyright infringement.
First Sale Doctrine
A majority of the United States Supreme Court upheld the application of the first sale doctrine to internationally published material in a decision released today, Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Government introduces anti-counterfeiting legislation
Bill C-56, the Combating Counterfeit Products Act, was introduced today with amendments to the Copyright Act and Trade-marks Act, to among other things, allow the Canada Border Services Agency to detain suspected shipments and act on requests from rights holders. It will also “expand the scope of what can be registered as a trade-mark, allow the Registrar of Trade-marks to correct errors that appear in the trade-mark register, and streamline and modernize the trade-mark application and opposition process.”
Continue reading Government introduces anti-counterfeiting legislation
TekSavvy BitTorrent litigation
Earlier today, the Federal Court heard Voltage Pictures’ motion for third-party discovery of TekSavvy, an Ontario ISP, in the copyright infringement proceeding against unidentified BitTorrent users. The Court granted TekSavvy’s request to adjourn the motion to January 14, 2013 to allow time for more notices to be sent to affected users.
Pay-for-carriage
The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in Reference re Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-167 and Broadcasting Order CRTC 2010-168, 2012 SCC 68. The majority (5-4 split) held that the CRTC’s ‘value-for-signal’ policy empowering private local television stations to negotiate direct compensation for retransmission of signals by cable and satellite companies was ultra vires.
Rogers, Quebecor, Telus, Bell v. SOCAN
For those interested in the copyright action started yesterday, T-2046-12, the action is a claim for restitution of past copyright tariff payments on ringtones paid by the plaintiffs to SOCAN.