Canada Introduces Long Awaited Copyright Reform

On June 12, 2008 the government of Canada introduced legislation to amend the Copyright Act. Bill C-61, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act, seeks to balance the rights of creators with the interests of consumers by extending copyright protection to works made available over the Internet and establishing new exceptions to benefit consumers and educational institutions.

The principal features of Bill C-61 are:

• Circumventing technological measures that restrict access to works or control copying of works will be prohibited.
  
  
• The manufacture, provision, offering for sale or rental, and distribution of circumvention tools will be prohibited.