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In the Canadian copyright reform arena, the events of early December 2007 changed everything. In late November, it was widely anticipated that new copyright legislation would be introduced in the model of the controversial American Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Open source developers have a unique relationship with copyright, with licences and practices enabling them to flourish in the copyright ecosystem. Open source software businesses are uniquely situated to comment on the copyright balance, since open source developers rely on copyright both for protection of their software, and for freedom to access the software of others. In the consultation process to come, the Canadian Software Innovation Association is in a position to be the voice of the Canadian open source industry. Copyright law is central to the philosophy and practices of open source developers. The public policy underlying Canada's copyright law seeks to balance the public's interest in rewarding authors for their creative efforts with the public's interest in access to those works.