Canada More Or Less Admits Its Copyright Reform Plan Is Driven By US, Following DMCA Exemption Rulings

from the why-wait-until-now? dept

With the Librarian of Congress issuing the latest round of DMCA anti-circumvention exemptions, many Canadians who were battling over the proposed anti-circumvention provisions in C-32, the proposed copyright reform bill, noted how the new exceptions were not found in the Canadian proposal. The key issue was the idea, as Canadian politicians (and the entertainment industry) had suggested, that such exceptions might not bring it into compliance with various treaties. However, with the US showing that such exemptions are allowed, apparently Canadian politicians are "reviewing" the rulemaking to see what "implications" there may be for C-32.

While I'm glad that Canadian politicians may be reconsidering their awful digital locks provision, it seems odd that it would take a US rulemaking for them to do so. After all, one of the key talking points by Canadian politicians is that this is a "made in Canada" approach to copyright, rather than being driven by the US. So, why would a US rulemaking matter? While it's good that this rulemaking is in a good direction, the fact that Canada didn't think to include similar exemptions in its copyright law until this rulemaking is more or less a confession that the copyright law was based on US rules and US interests, rather than Canadian interests.

Filed Under: canada, circumvention, copyright, digital locks, dmca, drm, rule making