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The dispute over movie camcording in Canada has escalated further with the intervention late last week of two prominent U.S. Senators. Senators Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn have written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to urge Canada to enact new anti-camcording legislation. The letter pulls out all the usual suspects - the 20th Century Fox claims that Canada is responsible for 50 percent of camcorded movies, the claims that Canadian copyright law is unable to deal with the issue, and the argument that Canadian camcordings are "higher quality."
The Senators also suggest that the alleged growth of Canadian camcording is a direct result of their U.S. anti-camcording legislation (ie. camcording moves north due to fear of the U.S. rules). Of course, they do not mention that the U.S. National Association of Theatre Owners has commented on the spread of camcording within the U.S. (then again, there is unsurprisingly no reference to data that calls into question the severity of the problem and its economic impact).
The letter concludes by warning that "if Canada does not criminalize illicit camcording, we are afraid that illegal pirating will continue to mushroom in your country." This issue continues to play out in an entirely predictable fashion - threats from U.S. movie studios, reports from U.S. lobby groups, and now letters from U.S. politicians. Up next will be a much harsher warning from the U.S. Trade Representative, which will cite these developments and follow the IIPA recommendations in its Section 301 Report that will be released next month. Update: A reader notes that it isn't just the U.S. Senators who stepped up the pressure last week. U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins called on Canada to introduce copyright reform. Wilkins described Canada's copyright as the weakest in the G7. Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday March 05, 2007 |
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Several people have written to note the curious timing of the introduction Bill C-47, the Olympics marks bill (perhaps better referred to as the Olympic Corporate Sponsor Protection Act). The approach was unusual on several counts. First, the bill was introduced toward the end of the day on Friday after many MPs had already headed home for the start of a two-week break. When they return, the Finance Minister will introduce the budget followed by a week of debate. In other words, the bill won't attract any attention for weeks.
Second, consider who introduced the bill. The government press release comes from Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, but he did not introduce the bill in the House of Commons. Nor did David Emerson, the Minister for the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics or Helena Guergis, the Secretary of State (Foreign Affairs and International Trade) (Sport). Instead, it was left to Jay Hill, the Chief Government Whip. Not exactly a ringing endorsement from cabinet.
So why the rush to introduce the bill? In what is surely a coincidence, the International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission visits Vancouver this week to look closely at the progress for the 2010 games. Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday March 05, 2007 |
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My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) picks up on last week's posting on the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network's claims about counterfeiting in Canada. In begins by noting that based on recent media coverage, people unfamiliar with Canada could be forgiven for assuming that all Canadians sport pirate eye-patches while searching for counterfeit treasure. The "Canada as a piracy haven" meme has been floated with disturbing frequency in 2007 with regular claims that Canada is home to rampant music downloading, illegal movie camcording, counterfeit product purchasing, and outdated copyright laws.
These reports invariably present a distorted picture - digital music sales grew faster in Canada last year than in either the United States or Europe and music downloading on peer-to-peer sites for personal purposes is arguably compensated through a private copying levy that generates tens of millions of dollars each year. Moreover, movie camcording in Canada affects roughly three percent of Hollywood films (not 50 percent of camcorded films as initially alleged) and Canadian copyright law is consistent with international treaty obligations. Nevertheless, the cumulative effect of the piracy coverage has left some officials humming "Blame Canada" and wondering whether the country deserves to be classified as a rogue nation when it comes to intellectual property matters.
The column then highlights last week's counterfeiting claims which came from CRIA's Graham Henderson and a commissioned survey from Pollara. I acknowledge that counterfeiting may be an issue, but argue that Henderson and the CACN have exaggerated the impact, pointing an RCMP study I obtained under an Access to Information Act request that expressed doubt that organized crime was behind all counterfeiting and which noted that there "are no indications of any serious incidents whose causes have been traced to counterfeit goods." Moreover, the Pollara study appears to do little more than confirm that some Canadians like fake clothing, handbags, and watches. This has a limited impact in Canada given that few, if any, Canadian name brands are the target and virtually none of the counterfeit products are actually made in Canada. Update: A transcript of the Henderson speech has now been posted on the CRIA site. Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday March 05, 2007 |
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The Toronto Star reports that local police are investigating complaints that executives at the NHL Players Association accessed and in some cases blocked the email accounts of players who have challenged the hiring of the union's executive director. For the past two weeks, police have been looking into whether the union's executive director and senior director of business ordered technical support staff at the union to access player email accounts hosted by the union, and whether such an action would be illegal. Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday March 05, 2007 |
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I recently posted about the effectiveness of Canada's notice and notice system. Today comes news from Australia that highlights the dangers of the notice and takedown system, where the country's mining industry has used the system to close an anti-mining website launched by a small protest group.
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Appeared in the Toronto Star on March 5, 2007 as Piracy in Canada Noise Getting Tiresome
Based on recent media coverage, people unfamiliar with Canada could be forgiven for assuming that all Canadians sport pirate eye-patches while searching for counterfeit treasure. The "Canada as a piracy haven" meme has been floated with disturbing frequency in 2007 with regular claims that Canada is home to rampant music downloading, illegal movie camcording, counterfeit product purchasing, and outdated copyright laws.
These reports invariably present a distorted picture - digital music sales grew faster in Canada last year than in either the United States or Europe and music downloading on peer-to-peer sites for personal purposes is arguably compensated through a private copying levy that generates tens of millions of dollars each year. Moreover, movie camcording in Canada affects roughly three percent of Hollywood films (not 50 percent of camcorded films as initially alleged) and Canadian copyright law is consistent with international treaty obligations.
Nevertheless, the cumulative effect of the piracy coverage has left some officials humming "Blame Canada" and wondering whether the country deserves to be classified as a rogue nation when it comes to intellectual property matters.
Last week, counterfeiting was in the spotlight as Canadian Recording Industry Association President Graham Henderson delivered a major address on the issue on behalf of the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network. In conjunction with the speech, the Pollara polling firm released the results of a survey conducted for the CACN that found that 28 percent of Canadians have knowingly purchased counterfeit products.
Henderson’s speech painted a grim picture, describing the Canadian economy as a "marketplace that has been infiltrated by counterfeits and pirated goods, endangering consumers and compromising our prosperity. Our marketplace for ideas is in a shambles, and we need to fix it." He added that organized crime is responsible for most counterfeiting activities and that counterfeiting poses health and safety risks to individual Canadians.
It should be noted that few people support counterfeiting. Indeed, if the allegations linking organized crime and health and safety concerns to counterfeiting are accurate, there would surely be widespread backing for an enforcement framework to address the issue. However, according to a previously secret RCMP report obtained under the Access to Information Act, the reality is that counterfeiting, though a concern, may not be as significant a problem as the CACN suggests.
The RCMP’s Criminal Intelligence Directorate completed the report in late December 2004. The secret assessment of intellectual property crime in Canada, titled Project Sham, warned that IP crime was on the rise around the globe and that there was a lack of awareness and training among Canadian police forces.
The report called into question claims that organized crime lies behind all Canadian counterfeiting, instead noting that their involvement varies throughout the country. For example, it concluded that in the Northwest, "only a few cases could be classified as organized crime; for the most part, IP crime there involves people who are ‘trying to make a dollar.'"
Similarly, the CACN makes much of the health and safety concerns associated counterfeiting, pointing to dangers posed by fake pharmaceuticals and electrical extension cords (the counterfeit cords allegedly fail to meet safety standards). The RCMP report acknowledges the concern, yet concludes that "in Canada, there are no indications of any serious incidents whose causes have been traced to counterfeit goods."
Closer scrutiny of the Pollara study also provides reason to doubt there is "cause for alarm," as the company says in its media release. While 28 percent of Canadians acknowledged that they had knowingly purchased counterfeit goods (an additional 12 percent learned of counterfeit purchases after the fact), the survey also found that the most commonly purchased counterfeit products were clothing, watches, sunglasses, and handbags.
Some may believe it is wrong to walk around in fake Ralph Lauren shirts, wear fake Rolex watches and fake Oakley sunglasses, and carry a fake Louis Vuitton handbag, yet this hardly constitutes an economic crisis. The reality is that this issue affects few, if any, Canadian name brands and virtually none of the counterfeit products are actually made in Canada (the RCMP report concludes that 90 percent of counterfeit products in the GTA are imported).
From the markets in China to street vendors in New York, there is unquestionably a thriving industry selling knock-off products of famous name brands. This phenomenon is not unique to Canada nor is there reason to believe, as Henderson stated last week, that it "robs many Canadians of their ability to earn a living" and "dims the light of innovation that is essential to our future economic prosperity." In fact, the real harm to the economy may be the baseless claims of Canada as a pirate nation that sow seeds of doubt for prospective investors and distract policy makers from more important economic concerns.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.
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