On June 29, 2012, Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, passed third reading in the Senate and received Royal Assent. Although not yet proclaimed into force, this Bill amends the Copyright Act, which had remained largely unchanged since 1997.
The enactment of this bill comes in the wake of several failed attempts to revise the Copyright Act, namely Bills C-60, C-61 and C-32, each of which died on the Order Paper due to the dissolution of Parliament in December 2005, September 2008, and March 2011, respectively.
Bill C-11, which was introduced in the House of Commons on September 29, 2011, adds new provisions to the Copyright Act, in part to align the Copyright Act with a number of international copyright treaties that have been signed by Canada.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, (IFPI) a recording industry association, released its Recording Industry In Numbers press release on April 28, 2010.
Although overall music sales and sales of (shall we say obsolescent?) physical media declined, sales of digital forms of music, live music sales and songwriters’ copyright revenues continued to grow.
An unexpected source of copyright policy critique from the right end of the spectrum:
"In America, copyright holders get 95 years' protection as a result of an extension granted in 1998, derided by critics as the 'Mickey Mouse Protection Act'. They are now calling for even greater protection, and there have been efforts to introduce similar terms in Europe. Such arguments should be resisted: it is time to tip the balance back."
Who might be publishing such libel? Internet hippies? The Free Software Foundation? Digital rights crusaders? Indeed not.