Bill C-47, the Olympics marks bill demanded by the IOC, was back in the House of Commons yesterday as the Government moved that the bill be read a second time and be referred to committee. James Moore, the MP who spoke on behalf of the government, ran on too long, […]
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The CACN’s Roadmap for Change
Over the next two days, two House of Commons committees will move toward finalizing their recommendations to address Canadian counterfeiting concerns – the Industry Committee will review its recommendations on the counterfeiting issue today, while tomorrow the National Security and Public Safety Committee will review its draft report on counterfeiting. While I am sure that all the witness comments and submissions will be considered, the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network's Roadmap for Change [pdf] will unquestionably play a key role. During its appearances before the committees, the CACN representatives touted the document as the prescription to address the counterfeiting issue.
The Roadmap for Change was not translated at the time of the committee appearance, however, that has presumably now happened and the document has been posted online. It is generally consistent with the committee appearances – many of the anecdotes and recommendations that were raised before the committees are mentioned here too. The CACN is seeking a far larger IP enforcement framework with more resources, an IP crime task force, and an IP Coordination Council. It is also seeking stronger border measures, changes to the proceeds of crime legislation, and the creation of a criminal provisions for trademark counterfeiting as well as for camcording in a movie theatre.
While there is much to take issue with (just about every media release from the past couple of years is crammed into the report), it is the recommendations and omissions that really matter. I am skeptical about the likely effectiveness of some recommendations (for example, the reliance on stronger border measures is undermined by the GAO study on U.S. border effectiveness), yet several have little downside and will likely make their way into the Committees' reports. There are, however, several recommendations that should be rejected.
TJX Security Breach Costs Millions
TJX has taken a $12 million charge related to the data security breach that affected Winners and HomeSense in Canada.
The Long Memory of the Internet
The CBC's The Current spent thirty minutes yesterday talking about the long memory of the Internet. A podcast version is available here (thanks Jeremy!).
Questionable Questions
Copyright and movie camcording were both raised yesterday during Question Period in the House of Commons. While the responses from Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda and Industry Minister Maxime Bernier were about as expected (essentially "we're working on it"), the questions from Bloc Heritage Critic Maka Kotto are revealing. Kotto focused on Canada's "outdated" copyright law and asked when it will be modified to "be in line with the two WIPO treaties Canada ratified in 1996." Regular readers will know that Canada did not ratify the treaties in 1996. Rather, Canada signed the treaties in 1997 and there is a world of difference between signing and ratifying a treaty.
Kotto's question about movie piracy lumped Canada together with China, Malaysia, and India, while claiming that "Canadian industry and the Government of Canada have suffered estimated losses of several million dollars."
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