Copyright

So Canada has finally joined the rest of the Western world in making artistic works remain in copyright for 70 years after the creator's death. It was 50 here. What this means in practical, immediate terms is that works by authors who died in 1973 which would have become public domain in Canada this year, now will not become PD until 2043 and that no works will enter PD in Canada due to the author's death until then. Authors can, of course, put their works in public domain or under Creative Commons licenses at any time voluntarily. This only affects works automatically becoming public domain.

There are arguments both ways.

Academics prefer a shorter term since copyright can make it expensive to do things like textual analysis and some forms of criticism.

Families, esp. of popular authors, like a longer term since it often means they or the estate make money off the works longer.

There's also those who argue copyright should die with the the author or be limited based on date of publication, not the author's death.

And there's the radical crowd (I know one) who argue that there should be no copyright. Artists should be making art for the good of all and not expect to make money off it.

What do the writers of SS think?

A story on what is happening in Canada.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-extends-copyright-protection-another-20-years-to-meet-new-trade-obligation-1.6215102

An interesting case that occurred because of Canada being 50 years rather than 70:

Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond and Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, died in 1964. That means that in most of the world, his works go out of copyright in 2034. But in Canada, they are already Public Domain, since 50 years puts the date in 2014. So, shortly after that happened, Canadian book chain Indigo-Chapters put out their own cheap hardcover editions of the original James Bond series and a bunch of Canadian authors released an anthology (only available in Canada) of James Bond short stories. But these could not be sold outside Canada since Bond was still in copyright in the US, UK, etc.

It is tricky, though, because it only covers characters, settings, plot elements, etc. from Fleming's original novels. So, for instance, the popular villain Jaws is not included because he was created by screenwriter Michael Wood for the movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker in the seventies. Basically, if you're Canadian and going to write a Bond story, make sure you read Fleming first, so you know exactly what is available to use.