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As a consumer of art in many forms, a software developer and a science researcher, I am concerned about the effects of copyright law on quantity, quality, availability and fair usage of the works produced by our society. In fact, I believe that any restrictions imposed by a copyright law should exist only to promote these four elements.

Of particular concern to me are digital locks which I believe may have a strong negative impact on availability and fair usage. I fear that in the near future our society will lose significative portions of it's works behind these locks, It is therefore important for a new copyright law to facilitate the bypassing of these locks for uses such as medium transfer and personal backup.

Other than limiting digital locks, to promote quantity, quality, availability and fair usage of works, I believe a new copyright law should:

  • shorten copyright term (+availability, +quantity)
  • promote stronger personal use and backup protections (+fair use)
  • favour of greater exemptions for education and research (+faire use)
  • allow for parody exemptions (+fair use)
  • enforce ISP neutrality (+availability)
  • enforce a re-sale right (+availability, +fair use)

In addition, a new copyright law should not:

  • target specific technologies (in order for the law to remain relevant in the future)
  • institute a levy for file-sharing/monetizing P2P (I believe it is the task of the industry to find business models to monetize their society granted copy rights)

Julien Gervais-Bird

Bioinformatics Coordinator / Coordonateur Bioinformatique
Laboratoire de Génomique Fonctionnelle de l'Université de Sherbrooke
Centre de Développement des Biotechnologies (CDB) de Sherbrooke

Date Modified: 2010-03-01

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