Exciting news today from Access Copyright and Creative Commons Canada as the two are joining forces to establish a public domain registry. The registry should assist in identifying works in the public domain in Canada and will be further supported by the Wikimedia Foundation to allow individuals to contribute to the registry. Regardless of your views of Access Copyright, I think they should be congratulated for moving forward with this terrific initiative which has the potential to serve as a critical resource for all Canadians and emerge as model for other countries.
Access Copyright And Creative Commons Canada Launch Public Domain Registry
March 3, 2006
Tags: access copyright / CopyrightCopyright Microsite - Canadian Copyright / creative commons / public domain
Share this post
3 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 238: David Fraser on Why Bill C-2's Lawful Access Powers May Put Canadians' Digital Security At Risk
byMichael Geist

June 30, 2025
Michael Geist
June 23, 2025
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
Canadian Government Caves on Digital Services Tax After Years of Dismissing the Risks of Trade Retaliation
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 238: David Fraser on Why Bill C-2’s Lawful Access Powers May Put Canadians’ Digital Security At Risk
Ignoring the Warning Signs: Why Did the Canadian Government Dismiss the Trade Risks of a Digital Services Tax?
Why Bill C-2 Faces a Likely Constitutional Challenge By Placing Solicitor-Client Privilege at Risk
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 237: A Conversation with Jason Woywada of BCFIPA on Political Party Privacy and Bill C-4
Whose rules?
When and where will the analysis of what, exactly, constitutes “public domain” in Canada, be published?
I realize the way our current copyright act is written, that this is the only viable option, but….
The way this should be done is with a registry of copyrighted works. Those works not in the registry would then be assumed to be PD.
The way it is now you end up with all sorts of unearned royalties for unlocatable authors going to fat cat collective agencies who purport to represent the authors but (by definition) don’t.
Well, I guess this is better than nothing as long as it isn’t those collectives that get to decide what works end up in this PD database…. Oh wait…
nice try AC
IANAL, but this seems as bizarre as a registry of legally approved behaviour.
I agree with the idea of a copyright registry. Automatic Copyright is looking more and more like a well-meaning idea gone astray.