Canadian educational fair dealing policies raised at authors’ meeting in Geneva

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Creator and publisher concerns over educational “fair dealing” in Canada were highlighted at an International Authors Forum (IAF) event at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) headquarters in Geneva in early July.

Among those who took part was John Degen, executive director of the Writers’ Union of Canada, and current chair of the IAF.

The discussion focused on copyright exceptions and the need to balance flexibility for content users with sustainable opportunities for content creators and publishers.

The importance of the Berne three-step test was a frequent point of emphasis. The test, which is a feature of many international copyright treaties, states, among other stipulations, that exceptions to copyright can be enacted in certain special cases so long as they: do not conflict with the usual ways a work is exploited (or sold) and do not unreasonably harm rightsholders’ legitimate interests.

In John’s presentation at the meeting, he described the addition of education as a fair dealing exception in Canada in 2012 and highlighted the negative impact that expanded  interpretations of fair dealing are having on Canadian creators and publishers.