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The New NAFTA Deal

Bill C-4, the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement Implementation Act, received Royal Assent on March 13, 2020. This new NAFTA deal (known as the NAFTA 2.0) is referred to in Canada as the CUSMA. The CUSMA amends the Criminal Code (s. 35 of the bill), the Copyright Act (s. 23 of the bill) and the Trademarks Act (s.108 of the bill). Some notable terms under the CUSMA include as follows: 1) it is a criminal offence for a person by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, to knowingly obtain a trade secret or communicate or make available a trade secret; 2) the copyright term is increased for some types of works that have a term that is not based on the life of the author from 50 years from the date of creation to 70 or 75 years from the date of creation in some circumstances; and 3) a person is presumed to infringe on a registered trademark if they are found to be importing goods on a commercial scale that bear an identical trademark, or one that cannot be distinguished in its essential aspects from the registered trademark.

See the full text of Bill C-4 here.

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