[1] From: "William E. Grant" <wgrant@bgnet.bgsu.edu> (132)
Subject: Re: 10.0476 copyright threat
Certainly efforts should be made to preserve fair use for education as
exceptions in the proposed Canadian copyright legislation, but if that
effort fails, librarians and individual scholars should be prepared for
more direct action. Most publishers of academic and scholarly books rely
on library subscription sales for their fundamental market. Scholars and
academics, including course adoptions, account for the bulk of remaining
copies sold. If the publishers, through their influence over legislation,
insist on making new works unusable for scholarly purposes by overly
restrictive copyright laws, an appropriate response would be a boycott.
The day this law goes into effect, all library subscriptions should be
cancelled and individuals should refuse to either purchase new works or
adopt them for classes until the law is changed. As end users, scholars do
have some power if only we will use it. If we don't, then how much
sympathy do we deserve?
William E. Grant
Bowling Green State University
> Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 10, No. 476.
> Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities (Princeton/Rutgers)
> Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
> Information at http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/
>
> [1] From: Peter Liddell <pgl@uvic.ca> (89)
> >
>
>The following message went out to the member societies of the Humanities
>and Social Science Federation of Canada. It seems that the threat outlined
>below is very real - our librarians are taking it VERY seriously, and the
>AUCC (Assn. of Universities and Colleges of Canada) has requested all
>Presidents of Canadian post-secondary institutions to make their concerns
>felt.
>I think the issue is serious enough to warrant international exposure, and
>a similar invitation to colleagues elsewhere to respond to those listed
>below.
>Peter
>
>
> URGENT - URGENT- URGENT
>
> The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has finished hearing witnesses
> with respect to Bill C-32 on Copyright and will proceed with a clause by
> clause examination this week and next week.
>
> The Federal government has repeatedly assured the educational and library
> communities that Phase II of te Copyright legislation would include at
> minimum a number of exemptions for educational and library purposes in order
> to provide the necessary balance between the interests of the user and the
> creators.
>
> We have just learned that the long awaited exemptions for educational and
> library purposes included in the legislation risk being eliminated. If this
> happens a reasonable and balanced compromise between the needs of creators
> and those of users of copyright material in educational and library settings
> will disappear.
>
> The AUCC in a letter dated November 22 to Sheila Copps states that "the
> government has come under enormous pressure from some creator groups to make
> major [last minute] changes to Bill C-32 which would either limit the
> applicability of exceptions to instances where no collective licensing is
> available, or substantially circumscribe the exceptions that are currently
> in the bill... [Those] changes would be totally at odds with the letter and
> the spirit of the commitments made to the [academic community]."
>
> Moreover, the letter also indicates that "the amendment advocated by
> various creator groups to limit the applicability of exceptions to instances
> where no collective licensing is available would constitute a fundamental
> change [...] and would render the exceptions in the bill virtually
> meaningless. ... Collective licensing complements statutory exceptions, but
> is not a substitute for them. "
>
> We urge you to write immediately to John Manley, Minister of Industry, and
> Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage, both sponsoring the bill, and
> the members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to ask that C-32
> not be amended to exclude the educational and library exceptions.
>
> We would appreciate receiving a copy of your correspondence. You can E-mail
> it to Therese De Groote at degroote@hssfc.ca or fax it to (613) 238-6114.
> We thank you in advance for your quick response to this campaign.
>
>
> The addresses of the above-mentioned ministers and members of the Canadian
> Heritage Committee are the following
>
> Hon. Sheila Copps
> Minister of Canadian Heritage
> 12th fl., 15 Eddy St
> Ottawa-Hull K1A 0M5
> Canada
> Fax (613) 994-5987
> coppss@parl.gc.ca
>
> Hon. John Manley
> Minister of Industry
> CD Howe Building, East Tower
> 11th fl;, 235 Queen Street
> Ottawa-Hull K1A 0C9
>
> Fax (819) 992-0302 e-mail manlej@parl.gc.ca
>
> Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage e-mail
>
> Monique Hamilton, Clerk of the Committee Not available yet
>
> Clifford Lincoln, Lib, Chair of the Comm lincoc@parl.gc.ca
> Gaston Leroux, BQ, Vice-Chair leroug@parl.gc.ca
> Beth Phinney, Lib, Vice-Chair phinnb@parl.gc.ca
> Jim Abbott, Reform abbotj@parl.gc.ca
> Guy H. Arsenault, Lib arseng@parl.gc.ca
> Mauril Belanger, Lib belanm@parl.gc.ca
> Pierre de Savoye, BQ savoyp@parl.gc.ca
> Hugh Hanrahan, Reform hanrah@parl.gc.ca
> Raymond Lavigne, Lib lavigr@parl.gc.ca
> Pat O'Brien, Lib obriep@parl.gc.ca
> Janko Peric, Lib pericj@parl.gc.ca
>
> tel. FAX (613)
> Monique Hamilton, Clerk of the Committee 996-0506 943-0307
>
> Clifford Lincoln, Lib, Chair 995-8281 995-0528
> Gaston Leroux, BQ, Vice-Chair 992-4473 995-2026
> Beth Phinney, Lib, Vice-Chair 995-9389 992-7802
> Jim Abbott, Reform 995-7246 996-9923
> Guy H. Arsenault, Lib 995-0581 996-9736
> Mauril Belanger, Lib 992-4766 992-6448
> Pierre de Savoye, BQ 992-2798 995-1637
> Hugh Hanrahan, Reform 995-7325 995-5342
> Raymond Lavigne, Lib 995-6403 995-6404
> Pat O'Brien, Lib 995-2901 943-8717
> Janko Peric, Lib 996-1307 996-8340
>
> Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada
> 151 Slater Street, Suite 415, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H3
> Tel: (613) 238-6112; Fax: (613) 238-6114
> Email: fedcan@hssfc.ca