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Canadian Supreme Court Entrenches Tech Neutrality In Copyright Law

Posted by Unknown on from the prepare-for-battle dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Last week, a Canadian Supreme Court decision attracted attention for reduced copyright fees for music and video. Michael Geist has a detailed analysis that concludes there are two bigger, long term effects. First, Canada has effectively now adopted fair use. Second, the Supreme Court has made technological neutrality a foundational principle of Canadian copyright. The technological neutrality principle could have an enormous long-term impact on Canadian copyright, posing a threat to some copyright collective tariff proposals and to the newly enacted digital lock rules."

5 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. we are by alienzed · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the Champions. But if you move here, please respect what's left of the physical environment too.

    --
    Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
    1. Re:we are by davester666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not really. Harper has already jammed ACTA up our ass, and I doubt the 'only valid if at least X countries sign' will stop him from just passing all the laws to enact ACTA regardless of any outcry.

      He's really taken to this 'dictator until my 5 years are up'.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. Re:Fill me in, eh by Literaphile · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of course when the industry has more than 2/3 of the lawmakers on the payrole it doesn't matter. They'll just alter the constition.

    You're kidding, right? It's virtually impossible to alter the Canadian constitution.

  3. Re:Fill me in, eh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You only need 7 out of 10 provinces representing at least 50% of the population agreeing to a change. How hard could that be! /sarcasm

    Canada wold likely break up before someone could get a constitutional amendment could be passed. So short of buying off every eligible voter in the country the entertainment industry is SOL.

  4. It's about time by Tough+Love · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My Nexus 7 arrived today. It comes preloaded with a copy of "Transformers: Far side of the moon" for my viewing pleasure. Five minutes into viewing it there was a popup advising the battery is low. So I go get the USB cable and plug it in. Now the movie won't play, it says "Couldn't load licence key (error 16)". Bah. So all the smart boys and all the smart girls over at Google can't make DRM work properly. Can anybody make DRM work properly? Does DRM have any right to life whatsoever?

    Canada is heading towards making DRM illegal. Good for Canada, and a perfect example why.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.