What Bill C-32 Means to Educators: What Can We Do?

As a part of UBC Open Access Week, an event titled “What Bill C-32 Means to Educators: What Can We Do?” was held in the Lillooet Room at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. The event featured Martha Rans, a Vancouver Project Lead for Creative Commons Canada and the founder and current Legal Director of the Artists Legal Outreach. Martha spoke about Bill C-32 in the context of the scholarly community and shared her knowledge on copyright issues.

Martha started her presentation by describing copyright as the legal right to copy something, and as something which exists to help protect artistic expression, whether dramatic, literary, or visual. Although the description of copyright is simple, Martha noted that copyright laws and restrictions are sometimes ambiguous, causing them to be debatable and subject to interpretation. This makes it difficult for people to decide whether they have the right to use a piece or work which they did not create, and if so, in what formats and circumstances. For instance, a piece of artwork, under copyright, may be viewed for educational purposes, but it cannot be modified to create another work or used commercially. The ambiguities surrounding copyright may also result in disagreements between people over what content should be under copyright and what should not be. The creators of the Yellow Pages, for example, believe that their publication should have a copyright, while others argue against it. To further complicate the matter, there are also different case laws and unwritten conventions regarding copyright that people need to consider.

After discussing the many challenges that are related to the issue of copyright, Martha spoke more in-depth about the changes that are happening to federal copyright law through Bill C-32 and how it may impact learners, instructors, and researchers. Bill C-32 would add education, parody and satire to the permitted purposes of fair dealing, something that could alleviate some of the confusion around current practices. Currently the Fair Dealing clause is fairly limited – it authorizes the display of a piece of artwork to accompany a review, the use of quotations from a piece of literature within works of literary criticism. The clause also permits the use of content for private study and research, making it very crucial to the academic community. The uses of the work must be fair. Learners and educators may have the ability to share their research however it must be for one of the purposes covered by fair dealing and is still constrained. The limits of this continue to be tested in the Courts. In addition, the people using the material, such as instructors who wish to include copyright materials in their Custom Course Packages, have the ethical obligation to ensure that the materials are only used for the purposes allowed by the Fair Dealing clause.

Martha ended her presentation by encouraging learners and educators to acknowledge content creators, who are finding it increasingly difficult to control how their materials are being used in this digital age. They face many challenges, whether it is other people modifying their materials to create new content without their permission, or industry members fighting for control over their materials to gain monetary profit. Martha noted that learners and educators can respect content creators by always checking whether they have the right to use or access materials. For instance, just because an image appears in the results of a Google image search does not mean it can be freely used. If the material has a copyright and does not fall under Fair Dealing, then it is a good idea to try to get in touch with the material creator, and find the best balance between access rights and payment, either monetary or otherwise. Another option is that educators can work on building their own repertoire of information through Creative Commons. It is not an alternative to copyright, but instead involves permission to use certain materials under licenses granted by creators, who retain control over their work. The licenses allow people to use their materials in certain ways while protecting the rights of the creator by acknowledging who the creator is and where the materials came from.

Martha’s presentation provided key expert insight into Bill C-32 and the changing federal copyright laws. Her talk was also very enlightening, informing educators and learners about copyright restrictions, and encouraging them to find ways to use materials while at the same time respecting and acknowledging content creators.