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Archived - Winkler, Michael
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Hello all,
Here is my feelings on the whole issue of copyright.
As a small business own of my own programing company I feel that a copyright is important when dealing with other business as I do want to be paid when another company uses my work to make money. However I feel that if a person has a use for some of my work for use in their own home on their personal time and they don't intend to make money off of it then I don't mind if they copy it. To be honest I make a lot of my work available to people in just that way and I do it because I know that it's not fair to charge a private citizen the same price for my service that I would charge another company, especially when my work my not be the best choice for a home user.
As such I feel like most Canadians that the government should stay out of the private lives of its people. As such I feel that any new copyright law should follow the following guidelines:
- Any copyrighted material must follow the laws in Canada for it to hold a copyright in Canada (including the privacy act)
- A good or service when sold in Canada as a good or service is bought and therefore the owner of the good or service can do whatever he wants with it. I.E. if I buy a lawnmower I should be allowed to take it apart, and use the parts to build something else, or even give some of the parts to friends. Too often when software is sold in Canada the seller assumes it is actually a lease and can then set conditions after the fact.
- A copyright should only last as long as the lifespan of the person that thought up the idea that is copyrighted. In the event that it is a company that files the copyright a average realistic lifespan should be imposed. Say 40-60 years.
- An orphan works act should be considered, if a person wishing to use another persons copyrighted material makes a good faith effort to contact the copyright holder, and cannot get a hold of them then he can use the work, if then contacted by the holder of the copyright then he should share any profits generated from the combined work.
- An American style DMCA runs counter to what Canadians want. Simply put, we want the right to pay a fair price for what we want, use it however we want ( so long as it isnt a illegal thing), and enjoy it without being assumed a criminal.
Thank you very much for your time,
Michael Winkler
