WHEN IN ROME ... AMENDING CANADA COPYRIGHT ACT

Bill C-32, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act, received royal assent on 25 April 1997. This was known as ''Phase II'' of copyright reform, '' Phase I'' having been enacted in 1988. Along with a number of technica l amendments, there are four substantial changes to copyright law in t he bill: a clarification of exemptions for non-profit institutions suc h as universities and libraries; stronger rules against ''parallel imp ortation'' of books; a levy on blank audio tapes, with proceeds to go to copyright collectives; and ''neighbouring rights'' for sound perfor mers and their producers. There are two distinct ways of thinking abou t copyright law. One focuses on the natural rights of creators to the income generated by their works. The other focuses on the economic pro blem of designing a copyright regime which maximizes social welfare. T he author suggests that while both views of copyright have been put fo rward in Canada throughout the debate over reform, the natural rights view had more influence on the design of Bill C-32 than the economic v iew.