Brian Chau is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.
The Conservative majority government has placed a new copyright reform bill, “An Act to amend the Copyright Act” on the Notice Paper earlier today. This new bill is expected to be introduced tomorrow.
For those unfamiliar with parliamentary publications, the Notice Paper provides matters which may be raised for consideration by the House of Commons. Once the notice period has expired, items on the Notice Paper typically move on to the Order Paper (the agenda of items of business to be considered by the House).
Several reports (Winnipeg Free Press, Hollywood Reporter, CBC News) have commented on this development with the general expectation that the new bill will be substantially similar to the controversial Bill C-32. Bill C-32 passed the second reading in the Parliament, but fell as a result of the dissolution of the Canadian parliament during the Spring 2011 re-election.
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Although Bill C-32 was met with a considerable amount of criticism, which its successor will meet also, the Conservatives’ attempt at amending the Copyright Act so soon after their election victory is very promising. Some speculated that copyright reform would not be at the top of Parliament’s agenda and that another bill wouldn’t be introduced for quite some time. The main reason for the previously failed attempts at copyright reform was federal elections. Since the Conservatives now have a majority government, chances are there will not be another election for at least four years. That should be enough time for Parliament to get its act together and finally amend our out-of-date Copyright Act. No excuses this time around.
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