Survey On Impacts of Copyright Term Extension on Libraries

February 12, 2021

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations is developing a brief to the Federal Government regarding the change in copyright protection to 70 years after the death of the creator that will be enacted in 2022 as part of the Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement (CUSMA).

We would like to gather anonymous data and stories regarding how copyright extension might impact libraries. This data would be used to provide real world examples about the impact on libraries of term extension.

We are hopeful that you can take a few minutes to please respond to any or all of the three questions asked to assist in this project. It would be wonderful if we could receive some responses by Feb. 19.

Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/S2W2YMF

1. In 2022 Canada will move to a term of copyright protection of life plus 70 years. The current term is life + 50 years. Do you have any examples of how this term extension might impact any projects, or proposed projects, in your work or at your organization?
2. Does your organization only undertake digitization projects when you have obtained permission of the copyright holder to do so? Does the inability to figure out who owns the copyright in photographs, pamphlets, posters, newspapers, etc prevent your organization from digitizing those works as part of a digitization project?
3. Please share any other compelling stories about how Canada’s current copyright regulations, practices, or lack of certain exceptions affect your work.

Thank you very much for your time and assistance,

CFLA Copyright Committee Term Extension Working Group.
(Brianne Selman, Mark Swartz, Donald Taylor)

(Via CFLA Copyright Committee Term Extension Working Group)