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Win for copyright user rights in Canada: Digital locks do not trump fair dealing

The Federal Court has issued a landmark decision (Blacklock’s Reports v. Attorney General of Canada) on copyright’s anti-circumvention rules which concludes that digital locks should not trump fair dealing. Rather, the two must co-exist in harmony, leading to an interpretation that users can still rely on fair dealing even in cases involving those digital locks. The decision could have enormous implications for libraries, education, and users more broadly as it seeks to restore the copyright balance in the digital world. The decision also importantly concludes that merely requiring a password does not meet the standard needed to qualify for copyright rules involving technological protection measures. If this all sounds technical, this post provides the necessary background and then reviews the decision.

The Federal Court has issued a landmark decision ( Blacklock’s Reports v. Attorney General of Canada) on copyright’s anti-circumvention rules which concludes that digital locks should not trump fair dealing. The enactment of the Copyright Modernization Act in 2012 was marked by a decade-long policy battle over how Canada would establish legal protections for digital locks as required by the WIPO Internet Treaties. For our purposes, it suffices to note, as we are invited to do so by CIPPIC, that paragraph 49 of CCH establishes the principle that “as an integral part of the scheme of copyright law, the s 29 fair dealing exception is always available”.

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