Canadian Copyright Laws

The Canadian Government has begun hearings on changing the copyright laws in this country. It is of great interest to those genealogists who are thinking of writing their research into book form. For example, Douglas Fevens found that his “Fevens- A Family History” was digitized by Google books without his permission. He writes in a letter to the editor to the University of Wisconsin:

“I wrote a book in 2004. It was not created to become a bestseller; only 200 were printed. But it was my book, about my family. I say "was" because the University of Wisconsin, in a commercial venture with Google Inc., has digitized it and now holds virtual copies, which I consider digital printing plates, and an infringement of my copyright.”
http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/letters/454959

David Canton a business lawyer and trade-mark agent writes in his blog E-Legal:
“The Federal government has just launched public consultations intended to lead to a new copyright reform bill. The last few attempts to revise copyright law have not become law - but have been highly controversial. This is an important topic that affects things we do every day. “
http://canton.elegal.ca/
How the new copyright bill evolves is of great importance to the genealogical community in Canada. Michael Geist writes in his blog “ In a nutshell, the government is asking Canadians to describe why copyright matters, how to ensure that reforms remain relevant, and what reforms would best foster innovation, creativity, and competition“. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4173/125/

Speak out on copyright changes by following Michael Geist’s new blog “Speak Out On Copyright” http://www.speakoutoncopyright.ca/ or join Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook Group.

It matters.