The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences has released a proposal to reform the current Copyright Act in the context of digital technology in response to government-sponsored national consultations.

“The crux of our argument is that we need a fair-dealing clause that is as clear as possible,” said Ryan Hill, a spokesperson for CFHSS, which represents 75 universities and colleges.

Fair dealing is a set of possible exceptions to an existing copyright law and is found in most common law jurisdictions.

The proposal recommends two main revisions to Section 29 of the Canadian Copyright Act. The first calls for the use of phrases like “such as” to make the current list of fair dealing defenses suggestive rather than exhaustive.

The second revision supports the integration of the 2004 ruling of the Supreme Court case Canadian Limited vs. Law Society of Upper Canada. In what is considered a landmark case, the court unanimously held that photocopying material for researchers did not constitute copyright infringement.

These changes would make the Copyright Act similar to the one existing in the United States.

The proposal also calls for using digital locks to block academic material online only if locks are broken for dubious purposes. Digital locks, also known as Digital Rights Management, are software designed to control how online media is used and prevents unauthorized copying.

According to CFHSS, the use of digital locks restricts free dealing mechanisms that allow for some unofficial use of copyrighted material, such as independent study and critique.

“Digital locks are not a good idea,” said professor Andrew Clement of U of T’s Faculty of Information. “When Digital Rights Management is used to lock entire pieces of work, it is detrimental to scholars.”

“Academics work for the most part from the public purse. All our writing should be made available to the public,” Clement said.

According to Clement, the advent of digital technologies has opened up more opportunities for scholars to share their work, but presents publishers with the challenge of developing a business model to monopolize control and access to online material.

The CFHSS recommendations are a result of nationwide public consultations on copyright issues held by the Canadian industry and heritage ministries. Responses were collected online and during a series of town hall meetings between July 20 and Sept. 13.