Copyright in a Digital Environment

The changes to the Copyright Act made by the Copyright Modernization Act attempt to balance the rights of users and the rights of creators while bringing the legislation in line with modern technology.  So what are users’ rights when they are accessing resources online where creators can specify their own terms of use?  What happens when fair dealing conflicts with an agreed-upon licence?  How will digital locks restrict or prevent lawful uses? In this session, we will explore these issues and discuss their impact with regard to:
 

• Expanded fair dealing under the Copyright Act amendments and Supreme Court of Canada decisions
• Educational exceptions in an online learning environment
• Using publically available materials on the web
• How licensing impacts users’ rights
• Digital locks under the Copyright Act amendments This session will introduce participants to two major issues: users’ rights to access and use resources and libraries’ ability to support these user rights in a changing digital environment.