News

ACTA Negotiations, Round 7 Agenda Posted

The next (seventh) round of ACTA negotiations is scheduled for Guadalajara, Mexico next week.  The agenda has now been posted, revealing that the meeting will be the longest yet, with three and a half days devoted to the civil enforcement, border measures, and Internet issues.  There is also an hour […]

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January 19, 2010 2 comments News

Privacy Commissioner Launches Public Consultation on Emerging Technologies

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched a public consultation on emerging technologies, including online tracking, profiling and targeting of consumers by business.  The deadline for written submissions is March 15th.

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January 19, 2010 1 comment News

Tracking Prorogation Online Activities

The Infoscape Research Lab has posted some interesting charts on online prorogation activities, including breaking participation down by political affiliation and platform.

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January 19, 2010 Comments are Disabled News

EU’s IP Negotiating Strategy With Canada Leaks: Calls 2009 Copyright Consult a “Tactic to Confuse”

Canada and the European Union resume negotiations on a Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) this week.  The second round of talks comes as the EU's proposed chapter for the intellectual property provisions leaked last month, revealing demands for dramatic changes to Canadian intellectual property law.  This would include copyright term extension (to life of the author plus 70 years), anti-circumvention rules, resale rights, and ISP liability provisions.

Now a second document has leaked, though it is not currently available online.  The Wire Report reports that an EU document dated November 16, 2009, features candid comments about Canada and the EU strategy.  The document, called a "Barrier Hymn Sheet" leaves little doubt about the EU's objective:

Put pressure on Canada so that they take IPR issues seriously and remedy the many shortcomings of their IPR protection and enforcement regime.

Having viewed the document, I can report that it goes downhill from there, promoting the key message that Canadian laws are inadequate, while liberally quoting a report from the Canadian IP Council and discredited counterfeiting data. 

The document states that the trade negotiations are a "unique opportunity [for Canada] to upgrade its IPR regime despite local anti-IPR lobbying."  It includes an assessment of recent copyright reform efforts, noting that two bills have died due to "political instability." The document adds that the copyright reform process was revived in 2009 with the national copyright consultation, but notes dismissively it may have been a "tactic to confuse."

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January 18, 2010 22 comments News

Lawyers Weekly on Baker Copyright Class Action

The Lawyers Weekly has coverage of the Chet Baker copyright class action against the recording industry that could involve as much as $6 billion in liability.

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January 18, 2010 3 comments News