It is noteworthy that we have been talking about in the past the way Indian Copyright Amendment Bill received great felicitation and welcome from the artists society all across the nation. This time Canadian Copyright amendment bill C-11 also arrived with interesting provisions and amendments. In one of the provisions i.e. Clause 7, the ownership of copyright for commissioned photographs is discussed. This clause talks about :
“ the limited rights being granted to the person who portrayed or commissioned the photograph for personal or non commercial use , subject to any contract specified otherwise...”
This is a beneficial provision for artists who are at times devoid of related rights on the commissioned photographs and works. Another interesting attribute is Clause 22 on “Fair Dealing”. Under section 29.21 of this clause, an exception is added for the content generated by non commercial users. This is termed as “Mash up exception”. The clause reads:
“ As per this exception , the consumer has a right to use in a non-commercial context , a publicly available work in order to create a new work. This exception is subject to conditions namely the identification of the source, legality of the work, and absence of substantial adverse effect on the exploitation of the original work…”
Also section 29.22 and 29.23 of this clause talks about “ Format Shifting” and “ Time Shifting” provisions respectively. Under these provisions the consumers could use Format and Time shifting for private purposes. On a more practical way, for example the consumers may be able to listen to an internet recorded audio or video on their systems at a convenient time or format shift audio on their gadgets like mp3, ipods etc without violating copyright restrictions. But this being subject to limitations like legality of the work obtained and private use clause. Amended Clause 22 states:
“ The purpose of this amendment is to clarify that the exception only applies for private purposes of the individual who owns the music or records the program, and not anybody else’s private purposes...”
Certain other interesting attributes of this bill talks about Technological Protection measures and Safe harbour provisions for ISPs. Full text can be read here. Overall, the proposed amendments touch every aspect of copyright and offer us in depth insight into a modern copyright law.
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