Canada _ (Commonwealth Union) _ The government managed to cram a modification to copyright regulations just before the end of 2022, so there won’t be any new plays, music, or books entering the public domain in Canada until 2043.
Literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works were protected by copyright for the lifetime of the creator plus an additional 50 years until Dec. 30.
However, beyond that time, a piece of art won’t enter the public domain for the rest of the author’s life plus an additional 70 years.
With the modification, Canada now complies with its obligation to align its copyright protections to those in effect in the United States since 1998, as stated in the new North American free trade agreement. Canada was given until December 31, 2022, under that agreement to comply, but it met the target one day earlier.
The adjustment, according to a statement from the office of Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, also aligns Canada with many other nations, such as those in Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Libraries, museums, and archives are also free to use public domain works for study and historical purposes, including uploading online archives of significant documents written by politicians and other international leaders.
Lester B. Pearson passed away in 1972, thus any residual copyright on materials addressed to or written by him would have been removed on January 1 under the previous rule. That won’t occur until 2043, though.
There will be no new works added to the public domain in Canada for the next 20 years. This law is not retroactive and only applies to authors, composers, and screenwriters whose works would have been added to the public domain between now and 2043. Additionally, there was no official notice either when the in-effect date was fixed to December 30 by cabinet in November or when it actually did so. In all, the government released 3,998 press releases in 2022, but not a single one of them discussed the modifications to the copyright law.
