Canada has planned on releasing a revised copyright modernization bill for too long and finally, the suspense is over. The bill has been passed and should get overwhelming response from software pirates and anti-DRM activists all over the world.

The new bill has legalized bypassing of DRM and has created many loopholes which can be easily exploited to create legalized copies of protected material. CD copying is now legal given you own the original source. Infringement damages have been slashed to one third. This comes as a relief against the last bill which was blamed to have been created “in the image of the US DMCA” and enforced stricter rules.

We had covered the notice and takedown policy of DMCA in the US. However, in the Canadian version, we instead have a “notice and notice” system. This move protects the ISP from being harassed by the authority issuing the takedown and getting involved in the case. The ISP only needs to forward a copy of the notice to the website and the dispute stays between the two ends without involving the ISP.

Finally, this is just a bill and there is time before it is made into a law. It is sure to undergo heavy amendments under pressure from the tech industry and it will be interesting to see what form it takes finally.

(Source)