Let us not be guided by outdated copyright treaties

Abstract

Anyone who has had the opportunity to look at the 'Canadian Copyright' Act would agree that it is in dire need of cleaning up, and modernising in both form and content. There has been much energetic debate as to how a new copyright Act can best be formulated to serve the needs of Canadians in the coming years, particularly within our digital content environment. Much of the current reform debate is focused on implementation of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Copyright Treaty (WCT) and Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), which were intended to address the changes in content distribution, and a perceived threat of widespread computer use. However, these treaties were brought in at a time when content distribution by the Internet was just beginning, and much of their content is now redundant.