I mentioned a situation we are currently experiencing. This is not fair use in the American sense. Our framework is that of Canadian fair dealing. Despite the fact that the dealing list is limited in Canada, the concept of equity must be determined on a case-by-case basis.
We are currently conducting a judicial review of a decision by the Copyright Commission. The aim is to define, on the one hand, what private study is and, on the other hand, the term “fair”. For Canadian authors and publishers, this involves $20 million a year. It's the courts that will determine whether the use is fair with regard to that very large amount of money. This kind of complexity and challenge will increase exponentially when all uses of a work, not just the five enumerated in the Canadian act, are subject to a fair dealing analysis.