The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology Recommends Adding a Digital Lock Exception to the CUSMA Copyright Provisions

On February 24, 2020, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (the Industry Committee) released its recommendations for changes to Bill C-4, An Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States. In addition to various other intellectual property and copyright concerns, the Industry Committee recommended adding a digital lock exception to the Canada-United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) copyright provisions.

The digital lock exception addresses concerns established by the agriculture sector about the right to repair their equipment. Unlike the United States, Canadian copyright right law does not currently make exceptions for legally modifying motorized agricultural equipment for the purpose of interoperability, making it illegal for Canadian equipment manufacturers to reverse engineer platforms. With uneven intellectual property rules in Canada and the U.S., Canadian agricultural equipment manufacturers voiced concerns of remaining at a competitive disadvantage to larger American manufacturers.

At paragraph 9, the Industry Committee recommended the following exception:

(9) Computer programs that are contained in and control the functioning of a lawfully acquired motorized land vehicle such as a personal automobile, commercial vehicle, or mechanized agricultural vehicle, except for programs accessed through a separate subscription service, when circumvention is a necessary step to allow the diagnosis, repair, or lawful modification of a vehicle function, where such circumvention does not constitute a violation of applicable law, including without limitation regulations promulgated by the Department of Transportation or the Environmental Protection Agency, and is not accomplished for the purpose of gaining unauthorized access to other copyrighted works.

Bill C-4 is currently at its third reading in the House of Commons.

Summary By: Alessia Monastero