Copyright trivia #1: Can you digitize your vinyl without infringing copyright law?

Copyright trivia: Can you digitize your vinyl without infringing copyright law?

If you are in Canada, the short answer is: yes, if you do it for personal use – but there’s a catch. In 2012’s Canadian Copyright reform, format shifting was legalized for private purposes. That is, that people in Canada would not be infringing copyright should they choose to “digitize content, transfer content to portable devices, or create backups to guard against accidental deletion or data loss.”

What you cannot do, however, is to circumvent digital locks. Digital locks are generally software or pieces of code that prevent people from duplicating copyrighted material. So in theory, creating a backup (for private use) of a movie would be ok, unless you need to break a digital lock to do so. Needless to say, most movies come with digital locks, so creating a personal backup copy –while legal– is not as easy as it could be.

Copyright touches everything around us – and right now the government is running a consultation to decide the future of Copyright in Canada. Make sure to learn more and make your voice heard at letstalkcopyright.ca