Copyright should protect and nurture the rights of creators, says coalition paper

No matter what happens, any copyright legislation in Canada has to put the rights of artists and creators first, says the Creators' Copyright Coalition.

The coalition -- an alliance of 16 professional associations of individual creators and performers and copyright collective societies active in the theatre, the visual arts, the applied arts, literature, music, recording and audiovisual (radio, television, film and commercials -- has published a position paper by which it hopes to influence forthcoming, and somewhat delayed, legislation.

John Degen, novelist and Executive Director of the Professional Writers Association of Canada: “I believe Canada can have a strong copyright law protecting the work and careers of all professional creators, while fairly and reasonably addressing the concerns of both corporations and consumers.The CCC statement is meant as a step in that direction.”

The paper asks the government to enact copyright legislation that will:

1) Recognize the central role of authors and performers in innovation and in the artistic and cultural progress of a society;
2) Reaffirm that the principal objective of the Copyright Act is the protection of the moral and economic rights of authors and performers;
3)Reaffirm their right to just remuneration for the use of their work;
4)Reaffirm that the introduction of new technologies should not threaten the fundamentals of copyright, in particular, activity relating to fair dealing provisions
5) Resist the expropriation of rights through the use of exemptions granted users; and,
6) Avoid placing the entire burden of defending these rights on authors and performers, who should not have to go to court or install costly technological protection measures.