Technological Protection Measures (TPMs)

[5 Feb 2025]

Section 41 of the Copyright Act defines “technological protection measure,” as well as what it means to “circumvent” such a measure. A technological protection measure (TPM) is “any effective technology” that, essentially, either controls access to a copyright-protected work, or restricts the reproduction or sharing of a copyright-protected work.

The Act contains a rather strict prohibition against circumventing a TPM. This prohibition essentially makes such a circumvention an infringement under the Act, regardless of how or whether the underlying copyright-protected work is used.

While there are a number of very specific exceptions outlined in the Act where circumvention of a TPM is permitted, it is important to note that there is no general exception that permits the circumvention of a TPM for a lawful purpose, and in particular there is no special exception that permits the circumvention of a TPM for fair dealing purposes.