Students encouraged by private member's copyright motion

OTTAWA, March 17 /CNW Telbec/ - Students' access to material for study could improve if NDP MP Charlie Angus' private member's motion to expand fair dealing rights in the Copyright Act is adopted, says the Canadian Federation of Students.

"Fair dealing is the foundation of users' rights in the Copyright Act," said Katherine Giroux-Bougard, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. "Expanding fair dealing will increase students' ability to study and promote artistic creation and innovation."

Fair dealing defines what a user can legally do with a copyrighted work without the owner's permission. Currently, fair dealing only allows copyrighted works to be used without permission for the purposes of criticism, review, research, private study, and news reporting. Angus's motion instructs the government to amend Section 29 of the Copyright Act to be consistent with the recommendations of the Supreme Court.

In a 2003 Supreme Court ruling, the court upheld fair dealing as a fundamental user's right and that to maintain the proper balance between the rights of users and creators, the right should not be interpreted restrictively. This view was also widely held by participants in last summer's copyright consultations held by the federal government. Among other things, the Canadian Federation of Students' submission to the government's Copyright Consultations called for a more broad and inclusive definition of fair dealing.

"Users, creators, professors, students, and citizens all called for fair dealing to be expanded during last summer's copyright consultations," added Giroux-Bougard. "Angus's motion supports the view held by Canadians from across the political spectrum as well as the Supreme Court of Canada."

The CFS submission to the copyright consultations can be downloaded from the Federation's website at www.cfs-fcee.ca/copyright/.

The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada's largest student organisation, uniting more that one-half million students in all ten provinces. The Canadian Federation of Students and its predecessor organisations have represented students in Canada since 1927.

For further information: Katherine Giroux-Bougard, National Chairperson, [phone]