Canadian High Court Rules on Copyright

An Anonymous Coward writes "Hi, Found this at: www.politechbot.com. Here is the intro from http://www.politechbot.com/p-03414.html: "Your readers may be interested in a landmark Canadian Supreme Court decision that explicitly addresses the question of copyright and balance. In a 4-3 split, the majority notes that the proper balance lies not only in recognizing creator's rights but also giving appropriate weight to their limited nature. Moreover, the majority argues that "excessive control by holders of copyrights and other forms of intellectual property may unduly limit the ability of the public domain to incorporate and embellish creative innovation in the long-term interests of society as a whole, or create practical obstacles to proper utilization."" In short: "Once an authorized copy of a work is sold to a member of the public, it is generally for the purchaser, not the author, to determine what happens to it.""

Comments

Canada

[Dead Penis Bird]

but also giving appropriate weight to their limited nature.

The limited nature of copyright is already in our Constitution (Article I, Section 8). Why can't the United States follow their original rules, while Canada ensures such fairness "on the fly". Is it because their lawmakers are less likely to be bought?

Sometimes I don't understand why we bash Canada at all.

Brave decision....

[gus goose]

It warms my heart to know that sometimes a good decision is made by people looking further into the future than just the next payback, election, or bribe.

This decision will cause a number of repurcussions with our so-called friendly neighbor the Americans.

For the last number of years the American policy toward Canada has been degrading (from the Canadian perspective). No longer are we friends, but associates. We are now enemies in lumber wars, victims in real wars, and we are treated with suspicion in all things terrorist related. We used to have the world's longest unguarded border, but that is history.

It is a shame that we no longer see eye-to-eye, but America's general trend toward a more managed society and a more selfish government has inevitably conflicted with Canada's movements toward more freedoms.

For us this is a good thing because we will gain advantages over the americans in the grand scheme, especially in terms of freedom to innovate.

I only hope that Canada makes more decisions which open up further opportunities. Let's face it, a business would be able to operate easier from Canada than the US (from a government red-tape perspective), especially in an international market.

gus

Too Enlightened for U.S.

[4of12]

The court's verdict sounds as if it's too logical, properly considering the long term benefits and drawbacks to society from copyright.

I doubt we could expect anything so enlightened in the United States.

The "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" clause in our Declaration of Independence was almost "life, liberty and property". Sentiment for the importance of "property" rights is strong. Probably slavery in the U.S. would have been abolished a lot sooner had abolition not directly confronted "property" rights of slaveowners.