xiii
Preface
It is hard to believe that 22 years have passed since the rst edition of
this book was published. At the time of approaching my publisher in
1990, I had written a few articles on copyright and given some talks
on copyright to various groups, and was continually being asked by the
public what more they could read on Canadian copyright law. Back in
1990, there was not much content on Canadian copyright law, espe-
cially for nonlawyers; hence I proposed a book on the topic. The rst
edition of this book received a warm welcome upon its publication as
has every subsequent edition. I am delighted to be providing you with
the fourth edition of this book.
When this book was initially published in 1991, I had not heard of
the Internet. In 1995, when the second edition of this book was being
written, I had my very rst e-mail account on the Ottawa ’s free-net,
o cially known as the National Capital Freenet. I had never surfed the
web though I was familiar with the Internet as it then existed, con-
sisting of Archie and Veronica and Gopher. And so by 2001 and the
third edition of this book, I had claimed real estate on the Internet
@ www.copyrightlaws.com , and I had a virtual o ce. Almost all my
correspondence with clients and students went online. I no longer car-
ried business cards but merely handed out my URL and told people to
click on my website photo to access me via e-mail. I cancelled my tele-
phone line and began using only a cellular phone.
At the time of this book (the fourth edition!), now available in print
and, for the rst time, also as an e-book, social media have exploded.
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