Bill C-11 and Copyright Infringement

Effective immediately, the Trent University IT Department will begin to  forward Copyright Infringement Notices as required by Bill C-11.

On June 29th, 2012, Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, received Royal Assent.  While most provisions of the act were brought into force on November 7th, 2012, all remaining sections of the act were brought into force on January 2nd, 2015.   Some of the provisions brought into force on January 2nd, 2015  include what has been colloquially termed the “Notice and Notice” provisions for Internet Service Providers.   As defined in this act, educational institutions, such as Trent University, are considered to be an Internet Service Provider.

The “Notice and Notice” provision allows content owners to indirectly communicate with those who have allegedly infringed the content owner’s copyright.  Under this act, content providers may monitor the internet and identify internet users that are infringing their copyright.   The identification of such users through an address known as an IP address will not identify the particular user in question, but will identify the Internet Service Provider where the alleged act of copying happened.  It is the Internet Service Provider that is able to identify the particular user in question.

Once an alleged copyright infringement is identified by a content owner, the content owner may choose to send an Infringement Notice to the Internet Service Provider, such as Trent University.  Trent’s responsibilities under the act are to:

1. Make efforts to identify the alleged user associated with the infringement and forward the Infringement Notice to that user, assuming the user can be identified.
2. Inform the content owner that notice has been forwarded OR that notice cannot be forwarded and why. 
3. Keep records for six months following an Infringement Notice or 12 months in the case of  court proceedings. 

It is important to note the following:

• You are not required to respond to a notice that you receive.  
• We will not share your identity unless required to by a court order.
• We cannot attest to the legitimacy of the claim made by the content owner.
• Trent University is not party to monitoring your traffic for copyright infringement
• The maximum fine that can be awarded for non-commercial infringement is $5,000/max per incident.
• Most infringement notices will cite U.S. Law that is not applicable in Canada.

Should you have any questions on the above, do not hesitate to contact myself or any member of my staff for further details.