The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS) has issued a  Call for Action on the current Copyright consultation.

The Federation is urging its member associations and institutions to get involved with the consultation process which will run until September 13th.

 While they will prepare a more detailed submission, the Federation has outlined eight general positions:

1. Make the concept of fair dealing more clear and flexible to encompass the reality of teaching, learning and research in the context of digital technology by integrating the Supreme Court’s tests for fair dealing from CCH v. LSUC (2004) into the Copyright Act.
   
   
2. Forbid the circumvention of digital locks (DRM) only if the locks are broken for infringing purposes.
   
   
3. Avoid specific exceptions, such as those in C‐61 for digital interlibrary loan and educational use of the internet: fair dealing already covers many educational uses, and specific exceptions are often entirely unworkable.
   
   
4. Work towards format neutrality in the Act, so that various media are treated in an equivalent way.
   
   
5. Add a provision that contract law may not trump fair dealing.
   
   
6. Refrain from lengthening copyright term.
   
   
7. Make provision for more practical access to orphan works.
   
   
8. Eliminate Crown copyright.

 
The statement caries forward the points the group made in its last Copyright Statement  in November 2007.

The Federation is a membership-based organization that is made up of 69 scholarly associations, 75 universities and colleges and 7 affiliates, comprising more than 50,000 scholars, students and practitioners across Canada.