From: ndallen@nyx.cs.du.edu (Nigel Allen)
Subject: Re: Canadian Copyright Law
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Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 09:28:42 GMT


 >  Is there a *copyright police force*?
 
Not exactly. There are groups like the Software Publishers Association and
the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft that investigate cases of
widespread software piracy and ask the police (the RCMP in Canada, the
Secret Service in the U.S.) to step in under some circumstances.
Copyright violation can be a criminal offence, but the police aren't very
interested in it unless someone else does most of their work for them.
Since software piracy is a serious problem for some software publishers,
they finance anti-piracy groups for that purpose.
 
In the case of books, you could put labels on your university-owned
photocopiers saying "Use of this photocopier in a way that will violate
copyright is prohibited." At least one major Canadian university has done
this, but I doubt that the labels have stopped anyone from photocopying
entire books on a coin-operated photocopier. You may have more luck
enforcing rules in the case o staffed photocopying centres (where a
customer hands the employee a book and says "please photocopy this",
the employee can be instructed to refuse to photocopy more than a few
pages of the book). However, this implies teaching a poorly-paid photocopy
clerk what "fair use" means, and it is inevitable that the clerk will
eitehr risk getting the university in trouble by making copies of more
material than is permissible or (more likely) seriously annoy members of
the university community by refusing to copy a permissible amount of
material.
 
 > What is the process of applying the law to abusers?
 
The process begins with the abuser getting caught, usually as a result of
someone tipping off the copyright owner. (If you fire or lay off an
employee who is aware of software priacy or other forms of software
violation, you run the risk that the employee will notify the Canadian
Alliance Against Software Theft or the police.)  If the police feel that
charges are warranted, then a search warrant may be issued and they will
seize everything they think might be useful to their case.
 
 >  What kind of penalties are involved?
 
Substantial fines, possible imprisonment,forfeiture of the seized goods
(which can be really expensive if a bunch of computers with pirated
software are seized).
 
 > Any assistance, direction, leads, names, reports, etc
 
You may want to contact the Association of Universities and Colleges of
Canada (151 Slater Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P 5N1). 
 
For Canadian copyright information, contact your nearest office of the
federal department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, or write to:
 Copyright Office
 Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada
 Ottawa, Ontario
 K1A 0C9
 
 For U.S. copyright information, contact:
 
 Copyright Office
 Library of Congress
 Washington, D.C. 20559  U.S.A.
 telephone (202) 479-0700 for information
 telephone (202) 707-9100 to order forms and booklets
 
Summary: Copyright is primarily a civil matter, where lawsuits rather than
criminal prosecution are the normal way of solving disputes. Blatant
copyright violations may, however, result in criminal prosecution.
It is unwise to get caught. The best way not to get caught doing something
wrong is not to do it.
 
More notes: One of your major problems is going to be underfunded
departments which say they can't afford to pay for software since their
budget is far less than it should be. You will have to explain that if
they can't afford to pay for software, they certainly can't afford to run
the risk of getting caught using pirated software. (And, realistically,
you should probably try to come up with some money to allow departments
using pirated software to purchase legitimate copies.)