Preface

• Author: Lesley Ellen Harris
• Profession: Lawyer, author, and educator
• Pages: 13-14

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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