The Government announced today that the notice and notice regime established under C-11 is coming into force in January 2015. The delay in bringing these provisions into force was a consultations on possible regulations that the regime permitted. The Government announced that the provisions are coming into force without regulations.
The regime permits copyright owners to send notices to internet service providers and other internet intermediaries claiming infringement of copyright. The notices must be passed on by these service providers to their users. Because there are no regulations, the notices must be processed and passed on by the internet intermediaries without any fees payable by copyright owners.
The rationale for the notice and notice regime was described in a Government background document as follows:
The Bill formalizes the voluntary “notice and notice” regime currently used by Canadian ISPs. Under this system, when an ISP receives a notice from a copyright holder that a subscriber might be infringing copyright, it forwards a notice to the subscriber. The identity of the subscriber may then be released with a court order. This uniquely Canadian approach has been effective at discouraging infringement and is consistent with Canadian values.
For more information about the Copyright Modernization Act or Bill C-11 or copyright reform, see Change and the Copyright Modernization Act.
