Archive for January 16th, 2012

Crafting Copyright Policy to Create a Competitive Advantage

Appeared in the Hill Times on January 16, 2012 as Crafting Copyright Policy to Create a Competitive Advantage For copyright watchers, New Year’s Day has become public domain day, the day when the term of copyright expires on thousands of works. While Europe celebrated the entry of James Joyce and […]

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January 16, 2012 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

US Copyright Lobby Wants Canada Out of TPP Until New Laws Passed, Warns of No Cultural Exceptions

The U.S. government just concluded a consultation on whether it should support Canada’s entry into the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations (I have posted here, here, and here about the implications of the TPP for Canada based on a leaked chapter of the intellectual property provisions). The Canadian government submitted a brief one-pager, pointing to Bill C-11,  ACTA, the dismantling of Canadian Wheat Board, and forthcoming procurement concessions to Europe as evidence that it is ready to negotiate the TPP.

While most submissions support the entry of Canada into the negotiations, it is worth noting that the major intellectual property lobby groups want to keep Canada out of the deal until we cave to the current U.S. copyright demands. The IIPA, which represents the major movie, music, and software lobby associations, points to copyright reform and new border measures as evidence of the need for Canadian reforms and states “we urge the U.S. government to use Canada’s expression of interest in the TPP negotiations as an opportunity to resolve these longstanding concerns about IPR standards and enforcement.”

Moreover, the IIPA wants it made clear that there will be no cultural exception in the agreement:

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January 16, 2012 21 comments News

Anti-SOPA Pressure Begins to Pay Off

The massive public protest against the U.S. bill SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, has begun to pay off with promises to remove the domain name blocking provisions, delay committee votes, and an official White House position that opposes parts of the bill. A web protest is planned for Wednesday. […]

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January 16, 2012 12 comments News

Liberals Express Support for Spectrum Set Aside

Liberal Industry critic Geoff Regan has expressed his support for the Open Media Stop the Squeeze campaign for a spectrum set aside in the forthcoming spectrum auction.

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January 16, 2012 Comments are Disabled News