Artist Property is protected in Canada by Access Copyright, but recently several larger Canadian educational institutions have chosen to read fair use in such a way that they do not feel obliged to pay to reproduce copyright protected material for educational distribution. The impact is huge. I’m a small scale writer and artist, but still, over the past two years, I’ve come to see a 30% reduction in my yearly residuals.

In today’s Access Copyright Newsletter, you will see that the “Federal Court of Canada upheld the rights of creators and publishers with its judgment on fair dealing, which has helped to clarify its application in the context of the educational system.”  In August, York University has chosen to appeal the court judgment against a recent decision in the artists’ favour.

This newsletter is clearly focussed on offering info about where this case is now and what you can do if there is an interest on the part of you/the reader of my post. Along with 3,100 Canadian writers, visual artists, actors, filmmakers and musicians, I have signed a public letter that asks Mélanie Joly, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, to keep creators central in upcoming changes to Canada’s cultural policies. It was also forwarded to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and my own Member of Parliament. In my additional comments, I point out that if artists’ property rights are not protected, there is no Canadian culture and artists cannot afford to make the art the makes Canadian culture.

If you follow my work, you know that much of it asks, “What remains?” Hence, without the protection of artist property rights, what remains? A propos, you have also read two frequent blog endings:  The artist must get paid. Buy more art.

http://mailchi.mp/accesscopyright/bk3m7sxkmi-1116289?e=d83fef81fc