Ottawa, ON—Jeremy Patzer, a Conservative member of Canada's Parliament for Cypress Hills—Grasslands, introduced Bill C-294, the Unlocking Innovation Act, June 17.
By amending Canada’s copyright law, Bill C-294 seeks to provide a clear and limited exemption for consumers and future innovators to enjoy the benefits of interoperability.
“Canada has been the home of many remarkable advances,” says Patzer. “We should never discourage new ones from happening now or in the future. If we make a small adjustment in the law, Canadian creativity will do the rest.”
For the last 10 years since 2012, Canada’s Copyright Act has enforced technological protection measures (TPMs) to help businesses and creators benefit from their own work, including software. Some companies use this to put digital locks in place, limiting which information their competitors or users can access with their products. Patzer says combined with a lack of clarity in copyright law, this can block users from having their machinery or devices interoperate with other equipment – as they were once able to do.
Canadians who deal with copyright and intellectual property, including industry associations, are actively calling for an update to the act, according to Patzer.
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