Okay. Thank you very much, Madam Chair and members. Thank you for having me here today. It's very kind.
I've invited Daniel along because Daniel is an expert in copyright law.
I have a proposal to make to the Canadian government for an amendment to the Copyright Act. I've been trying for the past 10 years to get a moment like this to be able to tell you about it. It's quite a simple proposal, and I'll get into it by just going through the PowerPoint presentation I have here for you.
It's a proposal for an amendment to the Copyright Act in subsection 14(1). Under the current copyright law, authors and composers who transfer or assign their copyrights by contract must wait 25 years after death to get them back. That's what it is. If you write a script or you write a book or you write a song and you assign your copyright to a company, you have to wait 25 years after you die to get it back. I can say it again, but I think twice is enough.
In comparison, the current U.S.A. copyright law was changed in January 1978. The U.S. government decided that copyright should revert back to the author and composer, upon request, 35 years after assignment. After you've given it to a company or you've made a deal for your book or your song, 35 years later it returns to you, and you can decide whether you want to continue with that company or keep it for yourself.
My proposal is that we change one word in the Copyright Act, in subsection 14(1), from 25 years after “death” to 25 years after “assignment”. It's one word. That's all we need to do. That way we get into the final part of my presentation, which is the reasons for change.
Before I do that, should we ask Mr. Gervais to make any comments or should I continue my proposal?