Canadian Library Association Signs Letter Opposing the Use of TPP Negotiations (Trans-Pacific Partnership) as Backdoor to Changing Canada’s Copyright Laws.

The Canadian Library Association has signed onto a letter from the Our Fair Deal organization opposing using the TPP negotiations (Trans-Pacific Partnerships) as a backdoor to changing Canada’s copyright laws.  Specifically CLA opposes extending the term of copyright from life of the author plus 50 years to life of the author plus 70 years.  There has been a trend in recent years to use trade negotiations conducted in secret to force countries to change their copyright laws from the current WIPO & TRIPS standards to standards that seem to only benefit corporate interests.  Works in the public domain inspire popular and valuable new derivative works, such as the spate of recent Sherlock Holmes spin-offs.  Keeping works by long dead authors under copyright protection appears to be a form of welfare for corporate copyright interests, rather than something that benefits society. Information on the Our Fair Deal coalition  can be found at http://www.ourfairdeal.org