Hill Times Letter: Copyright Infringers?

Letter to the Hill Times Editor published June 20, 2005

Re: “Canadian copyright reform must focus on policy and process,” (The Hill Times, June 13).

I believe that the House Heritage Committee and Heritage Canada are too tied up with “the way things used to be.” The legacy intermediaries industry associations representing “copyright holders” like CRIA and Access Copyright, as well as institutional users such as libraries and the education sector can no longer be seen to represent the stakeholders in copyright.

Creativity always builds on the past, and the past always tries to control the creativity that builds upon it. The greatest battle in copyright today is not between copyright holders and copyright infringers, but between incumbents and new competitors using innovative methods to create, distribute and fund creativity.

Russell McOrmond
Ottawa, Ont.