The budget implementation bill, C-19 received royal assent yesterday. It includes some IP-related changes:

• measures directed to the term of copyright including “6. Except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, the term for which copyright subsists is the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year” (Division 16);
• changes to the College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents Act (Division 17); and
• replaces the term “Prothonotary” with “Associate Judge” for the Federal Court (Division 22).