Graphic: Wikimedia Commons.
While much attention during the recent trade talks between Canada and the US was drawn to issues about the dairy and automotive industries, one topic that was rarely, if ever, covered by the media was Canadian copyright. It’s an issue that may interest genealogists, eventually.
Canadian Ryan Merkley, who is the CEO of the American-based Creative Commons, raised the issue yesterday when he tweeted his displeasure at how the new NAFTA/USMCA has extended the term of copyright in Canada from 50 years after the death of the author to 70 years.
Mr. Merkley tweeted, “The term of copyright in Canada will be extended to life + 70. This benefits no one except massive publishers, mostly in the US.”
During NAFTA negotiations, the United States had sought new protections for its intellectual property, but I have no idea how Canadian copyright affects that, if at all.
Copyright in Canada, and probably elsewhere, applies to all original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. The general categories include:
- literary works such as books, pamphlets, computer programs and other works consisting of text
- dramatic works such as motion picture films, plays, screenplays and scripts
- musical works such as compositions with or without words
- artistic works such as paintings, drawings, maps, photographs, sculptures and plans
For genealogists who want to publish old photos and take advantage of free online access to old books, this means we’ll have to wait another 20 years.
In any event, the trade agreement must still go through an approval process, and that will take several months.
As for all the trade agreement negotiators, they deserve a very long nap.
