OTTAWA–Canadians have until Sunday to give their two cents on how best to protect intellectual property at a time when words and music can be uploaded and downloaded in seconds around the world.

Liberal and Conservative governments have spent the better part of the last decade reviewing the Copyright Act, which was penned long before the Internet existed.

"There is no question this is one of the toughest files the government faces," Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, said yesterday.

Referring to the threat of a fall federal election, Geist said the input collected at town hall meetings across the country and from almost 5,000 submissions should survive a change in government.

The 1921 act has undergone numerous updates, being amended as recently as 1997.

The Conservatives put forward a bill in June 2008 to change the act, but were roundly criticized for not consulting Canadians. The government went back to the drawing board.

This time, anyone who wants to comment on how copyright law should be revised can do so by visiting copyright.econsultation.ca.

While the Copyright Act was once considered something for commercial enterprises to worry about, the Internet has brought it right into the homes of most Canadians.

The responsibility for canvassing Canadians has been shared by Industry Minister Tony Clement and James Moore, minister of Canadian heritage and official languages.

"The current copyright legislation took place in the world of vinyl records and cassette tapes, and nothing like a DVD player or iPods existed ... so it is certainly far behind the times," Clement told the Star.

He said the trick is to ensure new protections for intellectual property withstand the test of time.

"How do you create something that makes sense today but will also make sense 20 years from now?" he said, adding he'd like to see a bill this fall, but is content to put it off till February or March if necessary.

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Clement said the amended law must avoid being technology-specific and instead apply basic principles to technology as it evolves.

Canada is a signatory to the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty, which calls for protecting the rights of authors to their literary and artistic works while maintaining a balance with the public interest.