Canada’s fourth attempt to reform its copyright laws contains the same proposals as the previous bill, but has a greater chance of passage now that the Conservative Party has become the majority, rather than the minority, ruling party.
Last month, the federal government introduced the Copyright Modernization Act, Bill C-11, and promised to push it through within four months. It is identical to Bill C-32, which was killed off when Parliament was dissolved earlier this year.
Bill C-32 had progressed the furthest of all recent attempts at copyright reform.
It touched on technological protection measures (known as digital locks), fair dealing exceptions and ISP liability. The digital lock provision, perhaps the most controversial aspect of the bill, would make the circumvention of technological...