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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
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Q1 What does "nautical charts are protected by copyright"
mean?
Q2 Why does the Government of Canada copyright charts that
were
funded by tax dollars?
Q3 Do all countries have similar copyright laws for government
products?
Q4 Are digital charts protected by copyright?
Q5 Is it difficult to obtain permission to copy a nautical chart?
Q6 What is done if someone copies a nautical chart without
permission?
Q7 What is a sole licence?
Q8 If NDI has a sole licence to distribute CHS digital data
products,
can I have a licence directly with CHS?
Q9.
Why does NDI have a sole arrangement with CHS?
Q10 Why does the CHS - NDI relationship remain sole?
Q11 When does the present agreement terminate?
Q12 Will the relationship remain sole after the present
agreement
ends?
Q13 Are the only CHS certified and officially released Canadian
ENC's
and Raster charts those originated by CHS and
distributed through
NDI and NDI's dealer network, or are there
other companies who
provide official Canadian ENC and Raster
charts?
Q14 How does NDI set royalty fees?
Q15 What is the impact of royalty rates charged by NDI on retail
prices of electronic products in Canada?
Q16 Why are the royalty rates charged by NDI-CHS different
than those
of other countries?
Q17 If a value-added developer cannot reach an acceptable
agreement
with NDI, what can they do?
Q18 What if major manufacturers cease to produce and
distribute
Canadian data products?
Q19 What value does NDI provide?
Q20 How does the CHS-NDI agreement benefit me?
Q1 What does
"nautical charts are protected by copyright"
mean?
A1 It means that the Government of Canada has
a right to the intellectual property in the charts and that anyone
wanting to use, reproduce or distribute the information in the
charts needs the permission of the Government of Canada. When you
buy a chart, you buy the right to use the information on that
chart for your own purposes. If you want to copy the chart,
whether in paper or digital format, and sell or distribute the
copies, then you need the permission of the Government of Canada
and you may be required to pay a royalty on each copy produced or
sold. It is the same as the copyright on music CDs or movies:
copyright protects the rights of the author.
Q2 Why does the Government of Canada
copyright charts that
were funded by tax dollars?
A2 When the
Government of Canada produces charts; the charts are automatically
protected under the Copyright Act. Copyright protection for charts
ensures that quality control from CHS is involved, which enhance
navigation safety. In addition, copyright protection allows the
Government of Canada to recover a small portion of its costs for
hydrography and the production of nautical charts. Finally,
through licensing the copyright, CHS can indirectly provide the
public with services, which it could not otherwise provide due to
limited funding.
Q3 Do all countries have similar
copyright laws for
government products?
A3 There are
copyright laws in virtually all countries. Government data and
products differ from country to country. For example, the laws of
the United Kingdom are applied in a similar fashion to Canada's,
while in the United States, many government products are
considered public domain and can be copied without permission.
Q4 Are digital charts protected by
copyright?
A4 Yes they are.
The Government of Canada holds the copyright on CHS chart
products, and a private-sector firm, Nautical Data International
Inc. (NDI) has a sole license to produce and distribute those
products in digital form; and to grant sublicenses to others to
reproduce and distribute digital products containing CHS data. In
addition, NDI and the value-added resellers who have sublicenses
from NDI also copyright any intellectual property they add to the
products.
Q5 Is it difficult to obtain
permission to copy a nautical chart?
A5 Permission to
copy a paper nautical chart or a portion of one for use as
background, for example, to show the location of something in a
publication, is normally simple to obtain. Since this type of use
does not adversely affect sales, often all that is required is an
acknowledgement that it was reproduced with permission.
If copying the paper chart is for
commercial purposes, i.e. resale for profit or if the copies could
be used in lieu of the official chart and are to be distributed,
then the impact on sales needs to be considered, before granting
permission and negotiating compensation to offset lost revenue.
Permission to copy CHS digital chart products requires a
sublicense from NDI.
Q6 What is done if someone copies a
nautical chart without
permission?
A6 Normally the
infringing person or company is notified that the nautical chart
is protected by copyright, and asked to stop copying the chart and
remove all copies from circulation. If that does not happen, it
may be necessary to notify dealers and the public that a
particular firm or product is violating the Copyright Act so that
these users are aware that the firm does not have permission.
Concern of dealers about selling an infringing product exerts
financial pressure on the offending party to obtain permission.
Obviously, there are two avenues that can be pursued - civil
action or criminal charges (see: http://Laws.Justice.gc.ca/en/c-42).
Q7 What is a sole license?
A7 A person who
has a sole license for a product, depending on the terms of the
sole license, usually has the right to reproduce and distribute
the product, to the exclusion of everyone else except the
copyright holder. In other words, the original copyright holder,
and the sole licensee can reproduce and distribute the product,
but no one else can without infringing the copyright.
Q8 If NDI has a sole license to
distribute CHS digital data
products, can I have a license
directly with CHS?
A8 NDI holds the
sole license to produce and distribute CHS digital data products.
For commercial navigational and recreational purposes, a
sub-license from NDI is usually required. Requests for CHS data
products and digital data products updates are routed through NDI.
Q9 Why does NDI have a sole
arrangement with CHS?
A9. When the
CHS-NDI relationship began over ten years ago, the concept of
electronic charting was in its infancy and CHS did not have the
capacity to respond to demands from manufacturers and the public
for electronic chart data. Because the market was in its infancy,
it was determined that there was insufficient business to support
multiple distributors and that a sole license would make the
business viable as well as provide a single point of contact for
all electronic chart companies to obtain official CHS digital
chart data products.
Q10 Why does the CHS - NDI
relationship remain sole?
A10 The
Canadian market for official digital chart products has evolved
much more slowly than anticipated in 1993 when a sole license was
granted to NDI and CHS was not able to fund the infrastructure
needed to support reproduction and distribution by multiple
manufacturers. CHS has invested in electronic chart development
and NDI has invested as well establishing infrastructure support
and product development. As a result there now is a suite of S-57
Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) covering the major commercial
waterways and raster electronic charts covering most of the
southern waterways in Canada. In order to protect and maintain the
Canadian Electronic Chart infrastructure, the decision was made
that the NDI arrangement remains sole.
Q11 When does
the present agreement terminate?
A11 The present agreement comes up for
renewal in March 2008.
Q12 Will the relationship remain sole
after the present agreement ends?
A12 CHS will
have to evaluate at that time.
Q13 Are the only CHS certified and
officially released Canadian ENC's and Raster charts those
originated by CHS and distributed through NDI and NDI's dealer
network, or are there other companies who provide official
Canadian ENC and Raster charts?
A13 The only
CHS-certified Canadian electronic charts are those S-57 Electronic
Navigational Charts and Raster charts released by CHS and
distributed through NDI and NDI's dealer network. However, several
companies have obtained a value-added development and distribution
sublicense from NDI allowing them to access official CHS digital
data products and legitimately sell their products within Canada
and abroad (see attached list of licensed value-added developers).
Q14 How does NDI set royalty fees?
A14 Royalty
fees for value-added development and distribution sublicenses are
set by NDI under their business model, with client input. Under
the CHS-NDI Agreement, NDI is prohibited from giving preferential
treatment to any client. NDI has developed pricing based on a
business model that considers their operating costs and market
forces. The companies / organizations, which are identified on the
attached list of licenced value-added developers, have come to an
agreement with NDI.
Q15 What is the impact of royalty
rates charged by NDI on retail prices of electronic products in
Canada?
A15 The price
of licenses for certified CHS electronic chart products (i.e.
official charts) is not being changed. It has been determined by
NDI with industry input, and reflects the value that market
segment places on the products and services. In general, that
price does not cover the cost of data collection and development
of the product.
With regard to value-added products
produced and distributed by developers, the value-added developer
sets their own prices based on all their costs (including
royalties) and market forces. If a value-added developer has not
been paying royalties then they have had an unfair pricing
advantage over those who have been paying royalties. If that
developer now commences to pay royalties, that developer must
decide on how to pass all, part of, or none of that royalty cost
on to clients and remain competitive. There is no direct cause and
effect relationship between the royalties and the end user price
of a product as this is a business decision of the value-added
developer.
Q16 Why are the royalty rates charged
by NDI-CHS different than those of other countries?
A16 The royalty
rates reflect the cost of NDI providing the licensing,
distribution and maintenance services and the required
infrastructure.
In order to be more cost effective,
Canada has selected a public private model which differs from
other countries and which cannot be compared directly.
Q17 If a value-added developer cannot
reach an acceptable agreement with NDI, what can they do?
A17 NDI will
work to the best of its ability with the value-added developers
and will do its utmost to reach acceptable agreements on the basis
of providing a level playing field to all value-added developers
under similar commercial circumstances. Unless an interested
value-added developer obtains a license from NDI, the development,
reproduction and distribution of any digital data product based on
CHS data are prohibited. CHS policy is not to be involved in the
"private to private" negotiations. However, CHS has been
facilitating the process so as to have as many sublicenses as
possible to sell products in Canada.
Q18 What if major manufacturers cease
to produce and distribute Canadian data products?
A18 There are
already a number of authorized manufacturers with proper licensing
agreements in place in the market. (see attached list). CHS has
made data and digital data products available and encourages as
many manufacturers as possible to sell their products in Canada.
Q19 What value does NDI provide?
A19 NDI made
substantial investments to establish the infrastructure to support
official CHS digital data products, including the updating
services required for navigation. NDI also worked on the release
of official Raster charts by CHS, and as a value-added developer,
packaged the Raster charts with additional information that now
include pictures, more tidal information and more marinas in BSB
format - an North American industry standard used by many
manufacturers. NDI is developing new data products, features,
applications, better customer support services and overall
navigation upgrades with its industry partners. As the sole
distributor of CHS digital data products, NDI is licensing
value-added developers to use official CHS digital data product to
make value-added products.
Q20 How does the CHS-NDI agreement
benefit me?
A20 The CHS-NDI
agreement is an innovative private-public-relationship that has
made official CHS digital data products available to boaters and
value-added developers. Supplying all value-added developers with
an official, up-to-date CHS digital data product, from which they
make their value-added product, protects the boaters from products
that may be unsafe because they were digitized from paper charts,
converted from raster to vector, or based on out-of-date or
obsolete digital files. NDI licenses only up-to-date official CHS
digital products and has established an infrastructure from which
mariners, ship agents and value-added developers can download
updates and keep their products up-to-date.
For further
information please call 1-866-266-6603
e-mail: info@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
