A private members Bill has received first reading in parliament that would amend the Copyright Act to include artist re-sale rights. Bill C-516, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (artist’s resale right), was introduced on May 29, 2013.
Bill C-516 (text), would introduce a royalty of 5% payable to the author for each transfer of the work. The Bill was introduced by Mr. Scott Simms (Liberal).
Canadian Artists’ Representation, or CARFAC has been asking for a re-sale right for a number of years – see for example Recommendations for an Artist Resale Right in Canada (2010) and “Canadian artists hoping for art resale royalty regime in budget” (2013).
With the spring session of parliament expected to end in June, this Bill along with the Combating Counterfeit Products Act introduced in March, may die on the order paper unless passed quickly.
Alan:
From a procedural standpoint, if Parliament merely adjourns or recesses over the summer, it merely means just that – a long summer holiday. Everything will resume “as is” in the fall.
That is in contrast to “prorogation” – which is currently in the rumour mill here in Ottawa. Prorogation would kill Bill C-56. It would have to be re-introduced in a subsequent session. “However, for the purposes of Private Members’ Business, prorogation has almost no practical effect” See http://bit.ly/114GeQZ
For the terminology re “adjourn”, “recess”, “prorogation”, etc., see here: http://bit.ly/18yscQl
Regards,
Howard
Thanks for the clarification, Howard.
Also, as an update, Bill C-56 advanced to second reading on May 31st:
http://parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&billId=6004372
Alan Macek