A Copyright Board for Canada at 150

Recognition and protection of the role of copyright in Canadian society goes back as far as Confederation. But just as the need to pursue the appropriate balances among competing values is a constant part of our nation-building, so too is the need to occasionally re-examine and rebalance interests related to copyright

Copyright and Control

Canada\u27s Copyright Act has been said to create a balance -- but it is at least a 3-way balance, often difficult to discern in an individual case. Copyright is also fully statutory in Canada but changes as Parliament dictates -- and the latest changes to the Act (including education as fair dealing) have yet to be judicially interpreted. Given this environment, can control of the copyright portfolio be achieved in any given context

THE CREATION OF UNIVERSITY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, DATA PROTECTION, AND RESEARCH ETHICS

Protection of commercial confidences is both required as part of the intellectual property provisions of current trade agreements and routinely prerequisite for achieving patent protection. This paper discusses the protection of such commercial confidences and the relationship of this protection with the statutory regime in Canada of personal data protection, but does so within the specific context of an examination of these matters in light of the governance of the processes of research conducted in universities. The nexus of university research and commercial research occurs frequently—for example, in the area of the development and testing of drugs in Canada. The paper demonstrates that there are problems in bringing together and integrating the law of protection of confidential information and personal data protection with university practices in Canada. We analysed the research policies of research-intensive public universities across Canada; the Tri-council policy statement, which governs their research practices; and the legal requirements applicable to the universities in Canada’s provinces. The paper demonstrates that there is a disjunction between the law, university policies, and Tri-Council policy. RÉSUMÉ Une protection des secrets commerciaux est requise tant au chapitre des dispositions sur la propriété intellectuelle dans les ententes commerciales que comme préalable courant à l’obtention d’une protection par brevet. Cet article traite de la protection des secrets commerciaux et de son rapport avec les mesures législatives du Canada en matière de protection des données personnelles. Il examine toutefois cette question dans le contexte particulier de la conduite des activités de recherche menées dans les universités. Il existe souvent une jonction entre la recherche universitaire et la recherche commerciale, par exemple, dans le domaine du développement et de l’essai des médicaments au Canada. L’article démontre que des problèmes surgissent lorsqu’il faut rapprocher les lois sur la confidentialité des renseignements et la protection des données personnelles et les intégrer aux pratiques qui ont cours dans les universités au Canada. Nous avons analysé les politiques de recherche des universités publiques canadiennes axées sur la recherche, la politique des trois Conseils qui régit leurs pratiques en matière de recherche et les exigences juridiques applicables aux universités dans les provinces canadiennes. L’article montre qu’il y a désaccord entre la législation, les politiques universitaires et la politique des trois Conseils

Copyright: Robertson v Thomson

Members of the CLA Copyright Working Group will provide an update on both the Robertson vs. Thomson Corporation Supreme Court Judgment and the expected copyright legislation, as well as their implications for libraries of all kinds. In addition to analyzing the implications of both the recent Supreme Court Judgment and the proposed copyright legislation, time will be provided to answer copyright questions from the audience