An aspect of change that looked promising was expansion to the permissible categories of fair dealing. Parody, satire, and education were added. The last item unleashed a storm of protest by writers' groups and copyright collectives; they insisted that this would lead to wholesale appropriation of works used in educational institutions. Even though within a month of the proposed amendments, the Federal Court of Appeal issued a decision affirming that the existing practices of payment for works used in K-12 education would continue. The FCA decision should have reminded everyone that the category of use is not enough for the use to be deemed fair. (A framework of questions, similar to the implementation of fair use in American law, was instituted by the Canadian Supreme Court in 2004.)
Nevertheless, the campaign of misinformation continued; the year closed out with a full-page advertisement in a national newspaper. Readers were left with the impression that the inclusion of "education" as a potential exception to copyright was a never-before-tried proposal and that such an action places Canada's creative potential in jeopardy, with consequences for the digital economy and the entire country.
In any event, the furor will make little difference one way or the other. If the bill passes as proposed, TPMs rule supreme. Even if the use of a work would have been deemed non-infringing.
Next step: the Special Legislative Committee is once again seeking seeking input on Bill C-32.
