News archive: Extension of Copyright Term

Mon. Jan. 30, 2023

On December 30 2022, Canada's copyright term extended from 50 to 70 years beyond the year of the creator's death as a result of the Canada-United-States-Mexico-Agreement trade treaty.  This means millions of copyrighted materials that would've become publicly available on January 1, 2023 will not enter the public domain for another 20 years.

Read more about the consequences of the extension of Canada's copyright term:

• Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL-ABRC)'s "Addressing the Impacts of Copyright Term Extension in Canada"
• University of Alberta's Adrian Sheppard's article "Reconsidering the Copyright Bargain"
• Simon Fraser University's Jennifer Zerkee's "A Bizarre 20-year Hiatus"
• Toronto Star's Mark Swartz's "Interminable Pause"