Amendments To The Copyright Act: Another Attempt

Copyright 2011, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Originally published in Blakes Bulletin on Intellectual Property, October 2011

Introduction

After three earlier bills and years of rumours, the federal government recently tabled Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act (CMA) in Parliament. Bill C-11 replicates the 2010 attempt, Bill C-32, which died with the dissolution of Parliament prior to the federal election earlier this year.

The CMA represents a comprehensive set of long-awaited amendments to the Copyright Act (Act). It will, if passed, not only significantly modernize the Act (which has not been significantly amended since 1997) but also align domestic Canadian law with two of Canada's long-standing international treaty commitments: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.