Good afternoon and thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members.
The Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma is a craft union representing nearly 1,400 authors working in the audiovisual sector.
I'd like to start by making it clear that we are not in favour of the adoption of the bill in its current form. Even though the bill contains a few interesting elements, we believe that the measures intended to strengthen copyright are much less numerous than those limiting or restricting it.
Every update to the Copyright Act brings with it a whole new set of exceptions, which have an impact on creators' incomes, cause problems when interpreting the act and can lead to more litigation in the dealings between copyright owners and users. Bill C-11 unfortunately follows in that vein.
At the present time, the private copying regime applies only to sound recordings. With the introduction of digital formats that make it easier to access and copy contents, we think it would be beneficial for the private copying regime to be extended to books, films, etc. in order to protect the economic value of all types of works. However, over the long term, Bill C-11 will put an end to the private copying regime since compensation will be limited to blank audio media…