The Quebec book community is concerned about a vagueness that persists in the Federal Copyright Act. The National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL), Copibec, the Regroupement des éditions franco-canadiens and the Union of Quebec Writers are concerned by certain pre-budgetary recommendations: they seem to announce that this vagueness will once again not be corrected by the liberals.
The problem ? The notion of “fair use” for education, which universities use to pay less to authors and publishers of Canadian books.
“I know that it seems like a detail, that it’s dry, but it has a real impact on the books here,” exclaims the president of ANEL, Geneviève Pigeon, also owner of the editions L’instant très. “That literally means that the book industry in the country is losing $20 million per year. Money owed to him, for the use of books, that should be his. »
“And when the book industry has less money, as is already the case currently due to the increase in all production costs, it takes fewer risks, it produces less diversified, more conventional books. »
In the pre-budget recommendations made by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance at the end of February, four hit the book. The community welcomes three of these recommendations, particularly that of “increasing[er] permanently funding the Canada Book Fund.
But recommendation 208 arouses fear. “Preserve[r] the educational fair dealing exception under the Copyright Act. » From kossé? This is the exception that allows the use of short extracts from books and magazines without authorization if it is for education, research, criticism – or, in your newspaper, for “communication of news”.
Copyright and university finances
The problem is that this “fair use” is not clearly defined by law. And as it stands, according to ANEL, this vagueness allows universities to use works for teaching without paying the book creators what is due. “This is what happened in English Canada,” says M.me Pigeon.
In Quebec, because the collective management society for reproduction rights Copibec has signed agreements, one at a time, with universities, the bleeding is lighter. The fact remains that Copibec’s revenues resulting from these licenses fell by nearly $30 million between 2012 and 2021. Outside Quebec, as ANEL recalled last year, “almost all establishments has stopped paying the sums that would normally be due under copyright law to authors and publishing houses for the 600 million pages copied annually.
The book community especially sees a paradox with the previous pre-budget recommendation, 207. It proposes to “put[re] implement market-based solutions that promote fair remuneration of rights holders for the use of copyright-protected works through reform of the Copyright Act and ensure that the Act protects all creators and copyright owners and ensures that the educational publishing industry is sustainable.”
But it is impossible to achieve “a sustainable educational publishing industry” as long as the current fair exception and its vagueness are maintained, book people believe.
Why this paradox between two measures which are intended to be sisters? According to observers, it arises from the heavier weight that the demands of universities have, compared to those of the book industry, in the balance of the cabinet of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.