If CUSMA (aka USMCA or MUSCA) is ratified it will severely limit the ability of the Canadian Government to limit the impact technical protection measures on Canadians and Canadian libraries. Section 41 of the Copyright Act is already a Canadianized version of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. After CUSMA is ratification, the Government will be extremely limited in making any changes to Section 41 of our Copyright Act because of the limits placed on Canada (and Mexico and the US) by the trade agreement. Going against CUSMA would require Canada to either convince both of its trade partners to amend CUSMA; or it would need to withdraw from the agreement. This presentation will take a look at how TPMs have evolved in international arena from the WIPO Copyright Treaty in 1996 through to current times. Then it will look at what kind of flexibility and exceptions CUSMA does allow member countries and what kinds of regulations or amendments to the Copyright Act that we might want to lobby for.

Presented at the 2019 ABC Copyright Conference in Saskatoon, SK.