CFLA Copyright Committee Update (March 2023)

March 30, 2023

1) WIPO SCCR 43 (Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights). CFLA intervened on matters related to the Toolkit on Preservation about the need for TPM circumvention for preservation purposes. CFLA also intervened on the Public Lending Right (PLR) to advocate for not conducting a PLR study due to the potential negative impacts of PLR on education/library funding in the Global South, libraries’ preference for cultural supports for authors outside copyright, and the risks associated with establishing a right to control lending of materials.

2) CDL Working Group will have members presenting at various conferences. The CFLA CDL position paper has been uploaded to controlleddigitallending.org; work is progressing on getting the CDL paper translated into French.

3) AI Working Group is engaged in summarizing and qualitatively coding the Internet of Things submissions to understand positions and to facilitate outreach for advocacy.

4) Accessibility Working Group convened a meeting of stakeholders (publishers, accessibility specialists and librarians) to discuss the draft on Reasonable Search and to get feedback. One take away from this meeting was the recognition that there is no metadata field in MARC or ONYX to signify that a work is in an accessible format

5) Joint Taskforce on eBook Availability: CFLA endorsed the letter on e-book licensing from CULC, CARL, and CIPIC to the Ontario Review of the Consumer Protection Act. The Taskforce is investigating next steps for advocacy.

(Via CFLA Copyright Committee)