Archive for June, 2005

CRIA’s New Take on Copyright Reform

"This is terrific news. Canada is one step closer to having a copyright law that will reflect the realities of the digital marketplace and allow the music industry a chance to prosper. We want to thank the government and the opposition parties for their support in getting to this stage." […]

The State of File Sharing and Canadian Copyright Law

The recent Federal Court of Appeal music file sharing case, in which the court rejected the Canadian Recording Industry Association’s attempt to uncover the identities of 29 alleged file sharers, raises important privacy and copyright issues. Last week’s column reviewed the court’s test to protect personal privacy; this week’s column […]

Debating Domain Names

It is not often that Members of Parliament engage in debates on domain name policies so yesterday’s extended debate in the House of Commons is worth noting.

The impetus for the debate is the registration by an opponent of same sex marriage legislation of domain names bearing the name of MPs who favour the legislation. The sites are pretty deceptive. For example, the Don Boudria site looks like it could be the MP’s official site with only a disclaimer that it is not the official site.

The legal response to this issue is pretty complex. CIRA’s domain name dispute resolution policy is expressly designed to protect good faith criticism sites. That provision was adopted out of concern for the impact under the ICANN UDRP which has seen many legitimate criticism sites transferred under the questionable claims of cybersquatting.