Today the Government finally introduced its long-awaited Copyright Reform bill – (Bill C-61 ). Of course over the coming days, media and bloggers will be dissecting it.  But the immediate summary appears to be that the efforts to balance user rights (things like private copying, format and time-shifting) are restricted by anti-DRM circumvention provisions. 

It appears that you may be permitted to copy a song or movie to your iPod, and if you have to crack a digital lock in order to do so, then you may be able to avoid statutory damages for breaking the lock (statutory damages are automatic damages ranging between $500 and $20,000 per work) if the circumvention was for “private purposes”.  Curiously, it appears that you can only avoid statutory damages, but not actual damages.  This means that the copyright owner could still sue for actual damages, even if the circumvention was for “private purposes.”

 Calgary – 15:00 MST