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ARTICLE · 01 FEBRUARY 2021

Canadian Copyright 2020 Year In Review

Smart & Biggar
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Some may think that 2020 was the year of the world changed by COVID-19. However, we would like to pivot and reframe 2020 as the year that Canada's copyright laws evolved.

CanadaIntellectual Property
François Larose
François Larose
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Some may think that 2020 was the year of the world changed by COVID-19. However, we would like to pivot and reframe 2020 as the year that Canada's copyright laws evolved. With USCMA's legislative changes implemented by Parliament and interesting jurisprudential interpretations of issues surrounding fair dealing, 2020 resulted in a new normal for copyright law in Canada.

1) COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION

In 2020, the notable legislative changes to the Copyright Act (the "Act") came in the form of: (a) Bill C-209, a Parliamentary response to the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet Inc., 2019 SCC 43 ("Keatley"), which we reported on in 2019; and (b) the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act, S.C. 2020, c. 1, which received Royal Assent on March 1, 2020.

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