Copyright Act changes to be revealed

Industry Minister Tony Clement will be in Montreal Wednesday afternoon to introduce a bill to upgrade the Copyright Act.

Sources have said it will make it a crime to pick a "digital lock" attached to a piece of music, film, electronic game or other product.

For example, overriding the copyright code on a song to burn it to a CD would violate the act.

Moving digital material from a CD to an iPod, for example, or burning from a PVR to a DVD, will be legal for personal use as long as no digital lock is picked.

The Conservatives last tried to introduce similar changes two years ago but a massive online campaign erupted to oppose it. The government was forced back to the drawing board.

Clement told The Canadian Press last week that the bill to be presented Wednesday is "not chiselled in stone."

He said there could be some "positive amendments" to the bill and is counting on co-operation from one or more of the opposition parties.

Clement also said there will be nods to both the creators of copyrighted material in the legislation, and to the consumer.

He conceded it would be difficult to please everyone.

"Any bill worth its salt in this is going to have elements that strive to balance those interests, and not everybody's going to like where the balance is going to be struck," he said.