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People have been telling me that (presumably) due to TPPA, which is likely to pass despite public opinion, copyright laws are going to be tightened, among many other things. Canada is apparently going straight to life+70, and New Zealand to life+60? Or maybe both countries to life+70? Does anyone know if there's any truth to these rumours, or what's happening in more detail?

The word according to Canadian IP attorney and blogger Michael Geist is that both Canada and Japan have caved to diplomats from the Rodentine Imperium (USA) on the 70 pma term. Nothing has been signed or ratified, and no term extensions enacted so far. Thus it theoretically could be averted or minimized if there were sufficient public outcry in the countries which presently benefit from the more reasonable 50 pma term. The whole recent ruling over Happy Birthday might serve as a good example of the fact that seemingly arcane and boring laws like those pertaining to copyright really do have an effect on daily life and accordingly need to be scrutinized by everyone - not just the lobbyists for Disney, Warner-Chappell and other large concerns who no doubt would be happy with perpetual copyright for all musical works.

Keep in mind that if terms had not been extended in the US and EU, Happy Birthday would have expired in 1997 in the EU (assuming Patty Hill actually had a hand in the work, which has never been proved) and 2010 in the US even accepting the bogus 1934 claim. It's officially under copyright until 1 January 2017 in those EU countries where bilateral treaties with the US trump the EU rule of the shorter term for non-EU works.

cheap imitation wrote:Canada is apparently going straight to life+70, and New Zealand to life+60?

This is a link about the TPP being currently circulated by the New Zealand Companies Office:

http://www.tpp.mfat.govt.nz/

This is specifically about intellectual property:

http://www.tpp.mfat.govt.nz/assets/docs ... operty.PDF

Some excerpts:

Under TPP, New Zealand would be required to extend the copyright term to 70 years. The extension applies to works that are still within their current 50 year term of protection, but not those that have already fallen into the public domain.
(...)
A broad and flexible exceptions provision also applies to all the copyright provisions in TPP. This means TPP Parties will retain their current ability to adopt and maintain copyright exceptions under international law. New Zealand’s current copyright exception for temporary electronic copies (such as cached or buffered copies of websites and internet data) would not need to be changed.
(...)
TPP will not require New Zealand to introduce any major changes to internet service provider (ISP) liability provisions relating to internet copyright infringement. For example, the provisions will not require ISPs to terminate internet accounts or adopt a “three strikes” - style graduated response regime.

Max

I've read some encouraging news of resistance to this surfacing in both Japan and New Zealand. So even though a preliminary agreement was signed, no country has actually ratified the treaty, and as a US baseball coach used to say: It ain't over 'til it's over.