On September 29, 2011 the Government of Canada reintroduced into Parliament the Copyright Modernization Act as Bill C-11. Bill C-11 will amend the Copyright Act in a number of important ways, including making the circumvention of technological protection measures an infringement of copyright, amending fair dealing to include the purpose of education, parody and satire, establishing an exception for user-generated content and limiting the liability of Internet service providers. There are also a number of technical amendments that will enable Canada to ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and the World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonographs Treaty.
Bill C-11 is identical to Bill C-32 (also called the Copyright Modernization Act) which was introduced into Parliament in 2010 and died on the Order Paper earlier this year when the federal election was called.
The Parliamentary Committee on Bill C-32 received more than 150 written submissions and heard from more than 70 witnesses. As Bill C-11 is identical to Bill C-32, it is likely that Parliament will streamline the committee process. Now that the current government has a majority, we expect that Parliament will move quickly to pass Bill C-11.
Glen Bloom practices intellectual property law and litigation, and frequently appears before the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Trade-marks Opposition Board and the Copyright Board. Marcus Klee is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer, representing clients in complex and precedent setting litigation in all areas of intellectual property
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