Speaking on behalf of the global publishing industry, IPA criticises the Bill for being overly broad, ambiguous and wanting to introduce a paradigm shift that will put Canada’s publishing industry at risk.
Moreover, a number of proposed changes, if implemented as currently drafted, are incompatible with existing international copyright law.
Says IPA Secretary General Jens Bammel: “Publishers of course welcome that Canada wants to introduce the necessary legislative changes to ratify the WIPO Copyright Treaty it signed in 1997. But in the process, the Canadian government has also introduced a broad range of ambiguous clauses, some that require further careful deliberations, and others that deliberately attack fundamental tenets of publishing. These clauses are dangerous to international and domestic Canadian publishing.
“Furthermore this Bill introduces changes in a number of areas that are currently under debate at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. See WIPO note below.”
A full copy of the IPA letter can be found here