The Struggle for Canadian Copyright

First signed in 1886, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was the world’s first broadly multilateral treaty on copyright. It is still the cornerstone of international copyright law today.

At the centre of The Struggle for Canadian Copyright is Canada’s experience with the Berne Convention. Set against the backdrop of Canada’s development from a British colony into a so-called middle power, this book reveals the deep roots of conflict in the international copyright system that continue to divide “developed” and developing countries. Canada’s signing of the convention can be viewed in the context of a former British colony’s efforts to join and engage with a community made up of the world’s most powerful nations. Throughout the past century, Canada’s copyright policy has been used to portray the country to the world, first as a British colony and subsequently as a sovereign country, a good global citizen, and a middle power. In this groundbreaking book, Sara Bannerman examines Canada’s struggle for copyright sovereignty and explores some of the problems rooted in imperial and international copyright that affect Canadians to this day.