An Overview Of Bill C-56: Combatting Counterfeit Products Act

On March 1, 2013, Bill C-56 was introduced in the House of Commons. The majority of Bill C-56 is directed to amendments to the Copyright Act (CA)and the Trade-marks Act(TMA) to add new tools to fight commercial counterfeiting and piracy activities. An overview of these proposed tools, which include new civil and criminal remedies, and new powers for customs officers in respect of counterfeit and pirated goods, is set out below.

New Criminal Offences

Bill C-56 would expand the criminal provisions of the CA and introduce criminal offenses under the TMA. For the CA, Bill C-56 would make it an offence to possess an infringing copy of a work for the purposes of sale, rental, and/or distribution for the purpose of trade or exhibition in public by way of trade. It would also make it an offence to export (or attempt to export) an infringing copy of a copyrighted work for the purpose of sale or rental. (The CA currently already prohibits import in Canada of any infringing