Canadian public consultation on extending the protection of copyright from 50 to 70 years

Last week, the Canadian government started a public consultation on the possible Canadian entry into the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. These negotiations could have effect on Canada’s public domain, because the TPP requires countries to add 20 years to the duration of copyright protected material. At the moment, Canadian works are copyright protected for a term of 50 years after the death of the author. Entering the TPP would mean that the Canadian term would be extended to 70 years.

The copyright term is created to protect work after the death of the author. When the term ends, the work belongs to the public domain. Therefore, the extension of the Canadian term would mean no new works would enter the public domain for another 20 years. There has been some criticism on the extension of the copyright term. For example, extending the term of copyright could possibly have a negative effect on access to Canadian literature and history and would delay the opportunity to make Canadian works more accessible to new generations.

The copyright term regarding sound recordings is already extended in the EU in September last year. A majority of the European Council of Ministers adopted an amendment to Directive 2006/116/EC that extends the term of protection of the copyright related rights to sound recordings from 50 years to 70 years. The protection of 70 years applies only to musical works, not for audiovisual work. Not all countries in the EU wished for the extension. However, Member States must implement the decision of the council.

The Canadian consultation is open until February 14, 2012. After the consultation is closed, the Canadian government will decide whether they enter the TPP negotiations.

Reference: Michael Geist

By: Karen Groen