Introduction

The protection and promotion of copyright is one of IPA's key objectives. Respect for copyright encourages the dissemination of knowledge and rewards creators and their publishers. To find out more about copyright, its exceptions and limitations, as well as its application to publishers, please take a look at the various pages of this section.

Latest News

On 18 January 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Golan v Holder, a key public domain case, questioning whether the US Congress had acted lawfully when restoring copyright to foreign works which had been in the public domain in the US. In a 6 to 2 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the restoration legislation, affirming Congress’s actions and allowing the United States to avoid questions of compliance with its international treaty obligations.  This historic decision is a clear victory for a coalition of international publishers led by the International Publishers Association (IPA) and others. See Press Release of 19 January 2012.

Publishers from France, UK, US and South Africa have signed licensing agreements with TIGAR, a pilot initiative created in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).See Press Release of 14 October 2011.

IPA is saddened to learn of the World Blind Union’s declaration to suspend participation in the shared projects initiated by the WIPO Stakeholder Platform. See Press Release of 1 March 2011.

On 16 November 2010, IPA sent a letter to James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, and to Tony Clement, Minister of Industry containing a detailed critique of C-32, the copyright Bill, which will soon be sent to a parliamentary committee for in-depth study and to hear testimony of expert witnesses and industry stakeholders, and copyright consumers. See Press Release of 16 November. See 16 November Letter to Canadian authorities.