Working for the Copyrights

Thursday, May 31, 2018, 11:30-12:00 Rowena Johnson – University of Calgary

Abstract

On March 31, 2016 the University of Calgary announced that Universal Music Canada had donated the complete archive of EMI Music Canada to the university’s Libraries and Cultural Resources. The EMI Music Canada Archive documents 63 years of Canadian music industry, from 1949 to 2012 and includes the works of Canadian and International recording artists, such as Tom Cochrane, Anne Murray, Glass Tiger, Robbie Robertson, the Beach Boys, Iron Maiden and many more. The collection consists of master recordings, demo tapes, publicity and candid photographs, album cover art, creative outlines for music videos, drafts of song lyrics, marketing plans, awards, and correspondence between artists, producers, engineers and EMI Music Canada executives. The copyright for this collection is as complex and diverse as the materials in it.

In addition to preserving this important cultural collection, Universal Music Canada, the University of Calgary and the National Music Centre, a key collaborator in the donation, have committed to providing broad access to researchers, educators and the public.

This session will outline the role that the University of Calgary Copyright Office played in the procurement of this collection and ongoing involvement in the preservation, promotion and dissemination efforts. The Copyright Office has provided contributions to donor and partnership agreements and grant applications, analysis and application of fair dealing and Library, Archives and Museum exceptions and established permissions procedures and researcher agreements.

Bio

Rowena Johnson (Wake) is Copyright Officer at the University of Calgary

Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia wish to acknowledge the Coast Salish People on whose traditional territories we are privileged to live, work and play.

Copyright, Creativity, and Human Rights: Rethinking the Value(s) of Copyright

Thursday, May 31, 2018, 1:00-1:45 Graham Reynolds – University of British Columbia

Abstract

Copyright is often described as a set of economic rights the overarching goal of which is to incentivize persons both natural and corporate to invest in the creation and distribution of copyrighted expression. This characterization of copyright, as an economic asset and a critical component of today’s knowledge economy, has had a significant impact on the structure of both domestic copyright legislation and international copyright treaties, as well as on the ways in which courts have interpreted provisions of copyright legislation.

However, this conception of copyright fails to give proper consideration to the many linkages between copyright and human rights: the ways in which copyright advances various rights guaranteed under international human rights treaties, and the ways in which copyright limits the extent to which individuals can exercise their rights under these same treaties. These linkages require legislators and courts to give greater consideration to human rights in the context of copyright.

A number of consequences flow from accepting the connection between copyright and human rights. Using Canada as my case study, I will discuss in particular how accepting the link between copyright and human rights should impact the ways in which courts interpret provisions of Canada’s Copyright Act. I will also discuss how accepting the link between copyright and human rights should impact the ways in which courts interpret both the scope of rights guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (including the right to freedom of expression) and the relationship between Canada’s Copyright Act and the Charter.

While several objections can be raised to the claim that legislators and courts must accept the connections between copyright and human rights, I argue that doing so will ultimately strengthen the copyright system, resulting in more inclusive, more equal, and more effective laws and policies relating to copyright and creativity.

Bio

Dr. Graham J. Reynolds is an Assistant Professor at the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. He teaches and researches in the areas of copyright law, intellectual property law, property law, intellectual property and human rights, and technology and access to justice. A recipient of the Allard School of Law’s annual teaching award, the George Curtis Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence, Graham has completed graduate studies at the University of Oxford, where he studied on a Rhodes Scholarship, a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Scholarship, and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Award. Among other research affiliations, Graham is currently a Research Fellow of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre at the University of Oxford. He previously served as the judicial law clerk to the Honourable Chief Justice Finch of the British Columbia Court of Appeal.

Copyright Advocacy and Text and Data Mining: Do We Really Need a New Exception?

Friday, June 1, 2018, 9:30-10:00Graeme Slaght – University of Toronto

Abstract

Text and data mining (TDM) is a small but growing research activity at many universities and colleges, as well as in the private sector. Library-licensed resources are but one type of material that is being mined; others include social media, financial and government data, and any material that can described in a manner that machines can read. Libraries, publishers, and other organisations have each begun to support this still-nascent research methodology in a variety of ways, both traditional and innovative.

At libraries, there are two types of materials that can typically be mined: 1) library-hosted digital collections and 2) collections that libraries license from elsewhere. Supporting this research presents challenges to the current service and technical infrastructures of both libraries and publishers, and in response to slowly growing demand, many publishers have begun to offer their own services and APIs for researchers to gain access to licensed materials to perform TDM.

This year’s Copyright Act Review will likely consider whether to create a specific exception for TDM research. Other jurisdictions have already done this (the UK), or are in the process of doing so (the EU).  The US, on the other hand, has incorporated TDM into its fair use jurisprudence.

This paper will provide a brief overview of current support for TDM at the University of Toronto, which has included the effort to increase institutional knowledge of the “right to mine.” It will examine the results of advocacy efforts elsewhere, in order  to ask whether our 2018 advocacy efforts are best focused on advocating for a specific TDM exception, or rather on the continued ‘large and liberal’ incorporation of TDM into fair dealing. A specific exception would create a powerful user’s right; on the other hand, it also might delimit the scope of other existing exceptions under which TDM, even for commercial purposes, could already be safely performed.

Bio

Graeme Slaght is Scholarly Communication & Copyright Outreach Librarian, University of Toronto

The Ups and Downs of Representing the Educational Perspective During the Current Copyright Act Review

Friday, June 1, 2018, 10:15-11:15 Lise Brin – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

Mark Swartz – Queen’s University and CARL

Susan Haigh– Canadian Association of Research Libraries

Abstract

Copyright is an important issue for Canada’s research libraries. The sharing of information and knowledge is governed by copyright legislation, jurisprudence and licences. Distinguishing what uses are allowed from those that are not, and seeking appropriate permissions from rightsholders when necessary, is vital for librarians, students, faculty and researchers across Canada. CARL advocates for copyright legislation that is fair to users and workable for libraries. We inform decision-makers of the needs of research libraries and how copyright-related agreements may affect libraries or their users.

In this session, CARL will present our perspective on the complex work of advocating on behalf of the post-secondary educational community for a fair and balanced copyright, with a special focus on our support of fair dealing. We will explore the challenges of developing and conveying messaging to the government on this topic;  describe our activities to date with some assessment their relative success and impact; and offer opportunities for those in attendance to contribute reactions and input on these strategies via table activities and discussions.

Bios

Lise Brin is a Program Officer with the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). Her principal role is to support the work of the CARL Advancing Research Committee as well as its various working groups, while also playing an important role in CARL’s communications and copyright advocacy.

Mark Swartz is the Copyright Manager at Queen’s University and a Visiting Program Officer at the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Mark works with librarians, staff, faculty and instructors across all faculties and schools to develop web-based information and educational programs on copyright. His twitter handle is @markswartz.

Susan Haigh is Executive Director of CARL. In that capacity she works closely with the Chair and members of the CARL Policy Committee, as well as with the CARL President, board and members, to define and undertake CARL’s copyright advocacy.

Access Copyright and Fair Dealing Guidelines in Higher Educational Institutions in Canada: A Survey

Friday, June 1, 2018, 1:00-1:45Rory McGreal  – Athabasca University
Serena Henderson – Athabasca University
Viviane Vladimirschi – Athabasca University

Abstract

Information about the acceptance by Canadian Higher Education Institutions (HEI) of the Access Copyright (AC) tariff is necessary for educators, as is the copyright “pentalogy” decision of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) and its interpretation of the fair dealing. Many universities and community colleges in Canada have adopted the Universities Canada (UC) guidelines, while some have adopted the “six-point” test as their guidelines and/or made reference to a 10% limitation on fair dealing. However, in some cases, institutions have not adopted any policy or guidelines on any aspect of copyright; there are only a minority of HEIs in Canada that have committed to the AC tariff.  While the majority of HEIs have accepted the UC guidelines, only a marginal number of HEIs refer to the SCC’s “six-point” test.

This presentation will explore these results further to provide a glimpse of the behavior Canadian HEIs exhibit in the use of policy and guidelines at their institutions.

Bios

Prof. Rory McGreal is the UNESCO/Commonwealth of Learning/International Council for Open and Distance Education Chair in Open Educational Resources (OER); and Director of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute (TEKRI) at Athabasca University. He is the founder of the OER Knowledge Cloud, a repository of research articles on OER. Previous positions include Assoc. VP Research, Executive Director of TeleEducation NB, a Canadian province-wide elearning network. He is also the recipient of several national and international awards for open and distance learning.

Helping Artists and Art Students with Their Copyright Needs

Friday, June 1, 2018, 1:45-2:45 Don Taylor – Simon Fraser University

René Martin – Alberta College of Art & Design

Devon Cooke – DocumentarySoundGuy.ca

Abstract

Copyright and artistic creation intersect at many levels, but the copyright questions that artists and art students bring can be very different from the usual questions a post-secondary copyright office receives. This presentation will look at the variety of different questions/issues that have arisen at ACAD or SFU; the need to think outside the box in dealing with artist’s questions; the hazard of trying to apply the standard copyright guidelines to artist queries; the mistake of trying to fit the copyright needs of artists and art students into the standard institutional copyright box and when to apply a risk assessment to artists’ use of copyright protected works.

Bios

Don Taylor is Copyright Officer at Simon Fraser University

René Martin is Director of Learning Services, Alberta College of Art and Design

Devon Cooke is a location sound recordist who specializes in doing sound for documentary films. He has worked on Hollywood films, student films and documentaries, and has found that documentary films are his favourite.

Development, Demonstration and Discussion of the University of Alberta’s Open Educational Resources (OER) Project

Friday, June 1, 2018, 1:45-2:45Michael McNally – University of Alberta

Amanda Wakaruk – University of Alberta

Abstract

The University of Alberta’s (U of A) Copyright OER project, funded through a Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund grant, aims to develop a series of OER tutorials for use in graduate courses within the Faculty of Education and to be available for adoption and adaptation beyond the U of A. The project is a multi-unit collaboration of the Copyright Office, Centre for Teaching and Learning, Technologies in Education, U of A Libraries and the School of Library and Information Studies.

The proposed session will have three parts. The first part will discuss how the tutorials are being developed and will address both the overall content to be covered by the project grant (2017-2020) and the technology employed.  The second part of the session will demonstrate some of the developed tutorials.  The final, and largest part of the discussion, aims at engaging the audience and exploring how other institutions and individuals can contribute to the project.  As an OER project the content will be shared with a Creative Commons licence that allows other institutions to adopt/adapt materials.  The session will also include a discussion of the principles for collaboration that have been developed by the U of A project team and guide collaborations around the development of new tutorials/new content areas as well as improvements to existing content areas.

Bios

Michael McNally is an Assistant Professor with the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta

Amanda Wakaruk is the Copyright Librarian, University of Alberta Copyright Office

Copyright the Card Game (Canadian Version)

Friday, June 1, 2018, 3:00-4:30 Room 1400Mélanie Brunet, Joshua Dickison, Lisa Di Valentino, Rumi Graham, Alex Kohn, Kate Langrell, Obianuju Mollel, Stephen Spong, & Christina Winter

Abstract

Looking for new ideas to increase copyright literacy on campus? This session will be the soft launch of the Canadian version of Copyright the Card Game, originally created by Chris Morrison and Jane Secker in the UK and adapted by the presenters, a group of Canadian copyright educators. The game is an open educational resource, designed to make learning about copyright fun, engaging and memorable. Teams compete to answer questions about common copyright scenarios, using cards in four categories: Works, Usages, Licenses and Exceptions. In this interactive session, the audience will be invited to play the game and afterwards participate in evaluative discussion. The primary goal is to gather feedback on the Canadianized content of the game in order to make adjustments and proceed with development of a French version.

Bios

Mélanie Brunet – Copyright Services Librarian, University of Ottawa

Joshua Dickison – Copyright Officer, University of New Brunswick Libraries

Lisa Di Valentino – Law & Public Policy Librarian, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Rumi Graham – University Copyright Advisor & Graduate Studies Librarian, University of Lethbridge

Alex Kohn – Head of the Office of Copyright Compliance, McGill University Library

Kate Langrell – Copyright Coordinator, University of Saskatchewan

Obianuju Mollel – Senior Consultant in Knowledge Management, Alberta Health Services

Stephen Spong – Copyright Services Librarian, Centennial College Libraries

Christina Winter – Copyright and Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of Regina