House Leader Peter Van Loan said Monday that the Government’s agenda includes passage of Bill C-11 by the end of April. The plan is that the bill to modernize the Copyright Act “must pass” by that time. The government indicated last month it mght impose time allocation to get the bill to Committee. On February 8, 2012 a motion passed in the House of Commons to lmit debate to two more days before sending the bill to committee. The Bill was referred to a legislative committee for stufy on February 13, 2012. MPs agreed to examine the bill clause-by-clause by March 14 and end the study by March 29. The Bill will then be reported back to the House of Commons for Third Reading.
Passage of Bill C-11 is intended to make good on the Throne Speech which promised “swift passage of copyright legislation that balances the needs of creators and users.” Christmas gifts are always welcome, even in the spring.
If you want to catch up with current events regarding copyright, you might read Fen Hampson’s article Will the medium stop killing the message? in iPolitics and Terence Corcoran’s articles in the Financial Post: The Grey’s copyright wolves, The Internet’s collectivist blarney, and No oil meets no copyright.
For more information about the Copyright Modernization Act or Bill C-11 or copyright reform, see Change and the Copyright Modernization Act.
*Last updated Feb 16, 2012
