…no-one’s entirely sure how it will all end up, but the multinational Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) currently being negotiated could have significant ramifications for Canadian Copyright. Canada, the US, Australia, are among the countries participating in this deal.
For example, Japan is considering extending its copyright period to 70 years (from 50) which would bring it on par with the United States copyright period. In Canada, we only wait 50 years after the author’s demise for a work to enter the public domain. Will our country be urged to follow suit?
Many are nervous about the lack of transparency surrounding these negotiations. Given that we are busily implementing the updated Canadian Copyright Act, more change is not necessarily a welcome thing.