Good afternoon. My name is Ken Thompson and I'm here with my colleague Ms. Marian Hebb. I would like to thank the chair and the members of this committee for inviting us to appear on behalf of Artists and Lawyers for the Advancement of Creativity, ALAC.
ALAC is a not-for-profit corporation that for over 30 years has been helping artists, actors, musicians, dancers, writers, filmmakers, and other creative Canadians address legal problems. ALAC provides the Artists' Legal Advice Services, ALAS, which is a free legal clinic for creators wishing to understand their legal rights or obtain guidance on dealing with specific legal problems. ALAC also offers educational programs for creators to help them understand the laws that affect them.
The ALAS clinic is operated by practising arts and entertainment lawyers and intellectual property lawyers with the administrative assistance of volunteer students from the University of Toronto. Our lawyers donate their time to provide advice to those creators who may not be able to access expensive or more intimidating alternatives.
Twice each week, ALAS lawyers meet with Canadian creators from all artistic disciplines who experience the impact of copyright laws on their professional lives and who need to sign copyright-related agreements and contracts to pursue their professional endeavours.
Today, because of limited time, we would like to list a number of specific recommendations that would improve the situation of Canadian creators.
With respect to fair dealing for the purposes of education, we would ask that you revise or add regulations to the fair-dealing exception, which was brought into law under section 29 in 2012, for the purposes of education. Educational institutions have adopted their own arbitrary and overly broad guidelines on what they think they should be able to copy without permission from authors and their publishers.
Limit the scope of the user-generated content exemption. Give collective societies management of the right of users to create new works using an author's existing work or performance without permission, such as fan fiction or mash-ups of songs, if for non-commercial purposes. A song mash-up or an unauthorized sequel to a novel or film by someone else could scoop the value of the author's or performer's original. The user-generated content exemption was added to section 29.21 in 2012, and it should allow authors and performers to choose whether or not to authorize user-generated content for either non-commercial or commercial purposes, and if the latter, to receive payment.
Revise the parody and satire fair-dealing exemption. Add to parody or satire as purposes of fair dealing in section 29 to cover additional forms of pastiche, and include the creation of works, including artistic works that use excerpts or clips from other works without further legal risks. Artists encounter these issues in their work and have brought them to our clinic. An amendment here could make an existing work more accessible.
Extend the term of copyright for authors. The term of copyright for authors should be extended from 50 years to 70 years after the author's death to stay in line with legal developments elsewhere, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Australia. Authors as well as owners of corporate businesses should be able to bequeath what they have worked to create to at least their children and grandchildren. This amendment requires a change to section 6.
With respect to musical performances in films and on television, an amendment should be added to the act to remunerate performers for their recorded musical performances fixed in films and other audiovisual works when they are broadcast and digitally communicated. This would require an amendment to the definition of “sound recording” in section 2.
Remove the broadcasters' exemption. Remove the $1.25-million exemption that subsidizes commercial broadcasters and deprives performers of remuneration. Repeal this special and transitional royalty rate in subsection 68.1(1).
With respect to statutory damages for non-commercial purposes, get rid of the caps and bars on statutory damages for infringement for non-commercial purposes that make the remedy in subsection 38.1(1)(b) potentially nothing more than a single licence fee for many non-commercial infringements by more than one infringer. Effective statutory damages are essential.
In conclusion, all of these items affect the incomes or financial interests of authors and performers and their ability to exert reasonable control of uses of their work. Several of them provide greater access for both professional and amateur artists to make reasonable use of works of others.
From our work at ALAS we know how difficult, often close to impossible, it is to earn a living working as a full-time professional artist. We thank the committee for the opportunity to share our experience and views for copyright reform. Ms. Marian Hebb and I will be pleased to answer your questions. Thank you.