MONTREAL — Planning to make an extra copy of your Disney DVD that’s constantly under threat of being scratched or cracked by your toddler?
One day, you could be breaking the law.
The federal government introduced new copyright legislation Wednesday that would allow companies to seek damages between $100 and $5,000 from people who break “digital locks” to copy material like video games, films and music.
The wide-ranging bill touches on virtually every area of the digital superhighway, affecting consumers’ relationship with DVDs, CDs, MP3 players and even their Internet service providers.
It would be the first overhaul of the act protecting copyrighted property since 1997, a time when the use of digital material and the Internet was taking off in Canada.
The bill would create a new legal category for personal users, separate from the previous law that lumped people and businesses together and set the same $1 million maximum penalty.
Penalties for those who make copies for commercial purposes — from $500 to $20,000 for each infringed item — would not change under the proposed legislation.
A key component of the new law would make it illegal to pick a digital lock and copy legally acquired material from, say, software or a music CD, to a computer.
The Conservative government says the new rules aim to bring Canada in line with international standards while also appeasing the entertainment industry.
The Tories tabled the legislation in Parliament on Wednesday and announced its contents at a news conference in Montreal.
Heritage Minister James Moore said businesses like video-game developers, which employ more than 15,000 people in Canada, depend on these locks for protection.
“Without this choice that they choose to engage in, in order to protect their business model, many of these jobs will be at stake,” Moore told the news conference, held at the offices of video-game maker Electronic Arts.
“Canadian companies will benefit.
“It is essential to protect these jobs and this creativity . . . to make sure Canada remains a centre of creativity.”
The legislation follows the ill-fated Bill C-61, which the Tories tabled two years ago.
Bill C-61, tripped up by consumer outcry, also would have made it illegal to break digital copyright locks.
Industry Minister Tony Clement told The Canadian Press last week that the new legislation — which must still pass through the minority Parliament — is “not chiselled in stone.”
He said there could be some “positive amendments” and is counting on co-operation from one or more of the opposition parties.
Clement conceded it would be difficult to please everyone. On Wednesday, he called the new legislation a long time coming.
“Canada is late to the table, quite frankly,” he said.