LATEST NEWS
from the Visual Arts Sector concerning Copyright.

CARFAC is pleased to present a series of webinars where we share information about timely initiatives, including our long-term projects and campaigns as well as work that is being done in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.carfac.ca/tools/webinar-wednesdays/

CARFAC a l’honneur de présenter une série de webinaires au cours desquels nous partagerons de l’information à propos d’initiatives opportunes, y compris nos projets et nos campagnes à long terme, ainsi que le travail réalisé en réponse à la pandémie de la COVID-19.

https://www.carfac.ca/fr/outils-pour-les-artistes/les-webinaires-du-mercredi/

Friday, July 30, 2021 -

TORONTO [July 30, 2021] – Access Copyright’s case against York University was about remedying the significant and sustained economic harm to creators and publishers caused by the mass, systemic and systematic copying of their works without compensation by the education sector under self-defined fair dealing guidelines.

This economic harm was proven in court. Today’s Supreme Court decision did nothing to undermine that conclusion. Indeed, it declined to endorse York’s guidelines, which are virtually identical to the guidelines adopted by most of the education sector outside of Quebec.

While today’s decision does not dispute the harm, it declines to remedy it.

After almost 10 years of litigation and economic harm to the writing, visual arts and publishing sector, creators are still left fighting for fair compensation for the use of their works by educational institutions.

Disappointingly, the Court’s decision undermines collective licensing as well as the role of the Copyright Board of Canada in upholding a functioning market for creative works.

The Supreme Court’s finding that tariffs are not enforceable exacerbates the struggles of creators in today’s marketplace where the imbalance in bargaining power does not lie with creators and their collectives, but with large institutions that brazenly abuse uncertainty in the law, push exceptions to the extreme and deprive creators of their just reward. This decision marks the beginning of a significantly more challenging environment for creators to manage and monetize their works in an increasingly digital environment.

This threatens investment in and creation of Canadian works that reflect our lived experiences and values to the detriment of all Canadians, starting with our students.

“Canadian creators and publishers spend countless hours shaping and building the published material that inspire students. Educational institutions should be setting an example by respecting the work of others by fairly compensating creators for the use of their work. Instead, they have chosen to refuse to do so for almost a decade now,” said Roanie Levy, Access Copyright’s President & CEO. “There are no winners with today’s Supreme Court decision: we will all have fewer stories that speak directly to us as Canadians and chronicle our shared reality.”

The Supreme Court specifically said today that it is “open to Parliament to amend the Copyright Act if and when it sees fit to make collective infringement actions more readily available.” On behalf of Canadian creators and publishers, we call on the federal government to support the creative community and remedy the untenable situation in which creators find themselves as a result of the Court’s decision.

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About Access Copyright

For over 30 years, Access Copyright has facilitated content use for educational and professional purposes. Access Copyright has helped people make customized use of published materials combined with an assurance that the original creators and publishers also benefit, so that they can continue creating new and innovative works. This is vitally important to a strong Canadian culture and to all who rely on quality publications.

For general media inquiries:

Robert Gilbert, Communications Specialist and Affiliate Relations, [email protected]

Copyright Visual Arts / Droits d’auteur arts visuels (COVA-DAAV) are pleased to present Image Bank, a new digital licensing tool for Canadian visual art. This new technology showcases artwork by some of Copyright Visual Arts’ 1200 affiliated artists on the website. It allows galleries, publishers, and other companies to search for Canadian artists and to easily get quotes for licensed use of their artwork. Image Bank also provides several types of licenses directly and quickly online.

This Spring, Copyright Visual Arts (formerly CARCC) will launch its new transactional platform with a new corporate website. We believe that you will like our new look and the many new features that will be available to our members. We also believe that the new platform will increase the visibility of members’ art to potential users and the general public.  Here is a brief description.

October marks the beginning of presentations across the country on “Copyright for Visual Artists” by our Copyright Agent, Rose Ekins. Thanks to a grant from the Ontario Arts Council, Rose was travelling throughout Ontario in October, giving talks in London, Hamilton, Waterloo and Toronto. In November, Rose has also given presentations in Vancouver, BC.  The     

SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up to date with upcoming news and new projects from us on our social media channels for the latest information: Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/CopyrightVisualArts/  

 and Twitter   https://twitter.com/CopyrightArts

On September 15^th, board member David Yazbeck presented to the Standing Committee of Industry, Science and Innovation who are undertaking the Statutory Review of the Copyright Act. On October 5 Co-Chair Paddy Lamb and member artist Grant McConnell  also presented to the Standing Committee of Canadian Heritage. Our presentations focussed on three main items: the fair dealing exception for education, the date restricting the application of the exhibition right and, of course, the introduction of the Artist’s Resale Right.

Copyright Visual Arts held its Annual General Meeting on September 7, 2018. Representatives of CARFAC and RAAV as well as board members and staff of both associations joined together to review last year’s activities and adopt the financial statements for the 2017-2018 fiscal year ended March 31, 2018.

The Coordinator’s Report mentioned that we are in a more stable place financially ...

We are pleased to welcome both Rose Ekins and Hélène Pappathomas who work as Copyright Agents in Ottawa and Montréal, respectively. Rose has been in her position since May of this year and Hélène shares her time between Copyright Visual Arts and RAAV.