[d at DCC] Renewal of CBRA Licence Agreement

[Joseph Potvin]

This news item was circulated at Treasury Board Secretariat yesterday...

The Government of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasters Rights Agency 
(CBRA) recently renewed the terms of a licence authorizing certain 
federal institutions to record news and public affairs programming from 
commercial broadcasters for a period of three years. Without the 
licence, the recording of programs and the extraction of excerpts owned 
by commercial broadcasters would constitute copyright infringement and 
would be inconsistent with the Communications Policy of the Government 
of Canada, which requires that all institutions "comply with the 
Copyright Act and ensure that the ownership rights associated with works 
subject to copyright are fully respected in all media applications."

The CBRA licence also requires that the Government of Canada advise 
federal employees once a year of the general terms of the licence and 
related restrictions. To view the full requirements of the licence, 
please consult the notice to Government of Canada employees 
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/sipubs/comm/cl-dacl/notice-avis_e.asp 
available on the TBS Web site. For additional information, please 
contact Robert Bousquet, Manager, Communications Policy, at 613-957-2536.

From: Philip Hurcomb, Assistant Secretary, Strategic Communications and 
Ministerial Affairs