Post Tagged with: "camcording"

Ministers Respond to Industry Committee Counterfeiting Report

Four government ministers – Day (Public Safety), Prentice (Industry), Emerson (International Trade), and Nicholson (Justice) – have issued their response to last spring's Industry Committee counterfeiting report that included 19 recommendations for reform including stronger penalties, WIPO ratification, and increased border enforcement.  The letter, which interestingly does include Canadian Heritage Minister Josee Verner, avoids addressing each specific recommendation as the Committee requested, choosing instead to offer some general words of support for anti-counterfeiting measures.

The letter rightly focuses first on concerns associated with health and safety.  The letter continues by noting that the Government's first step in its IPR strategy has already been taken with the passage of last spring's anti-camcording legislation.  Moreover, it adds that there is ongoing inter-departmental work on strengthening IP enforcement.

Looking ahead, the letter again confirms that the DMCA is headed to Canada, stating that:

Read more ›

October 18, 2007 9 comments News

Teen Pleads Guilty to Movie Camcording

A Virginia teenager has pled guilty to one count of unlawfully recording a motion picture in violation of state law after she filmed 20 seconds of Transformers. The teen was fined $71, though faced the prospect of jail time.  The prosecutor advised that the theatre chain, Regal Entertainment (the world's […]

Read more ›

August 22, 2007 1 comment News

The Sicko Leak

The leak of Michael Moore's forthcoming documentary Sicko on the Internet has attracted considerable attention. Indeed, when beginning comments on Bill C-59 in the Senate, Conservative Senator Janis G. Johnson opened with: Honourable senators, Bill C-59 will deter unauthorized videotape camcord activities in movie theatres in Canada. The bill amends […]

Read more ›

June 20, 2007 10 comments News

Canada Ranked as Hollywood’s Fastest Growing Market

After all the claims about Canada as a movie piracy haven and the threats about delaying the release of films, the MPA has issued a confidential report that casts Canada in a much different light.  According to the Hollywood Reporter, the annual MPA report on all-media sales shows Canada as […]

Read more ›

June 15, 2007 7 comments News

Behind the Scenes of Canada’s Movie Piracy Bill

With Bill C-59 scheduled for second reading and debate today, my weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) highlights some of the behind the scenes developments that led to Canada's movie piracy bill.  Based on documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, the column reveals that Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda held a private meeting in Ottawa with Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association President Douglas Frith one year before the bill was introduced, at which Frith provided the government with draft legislation – legislation that the lobby group itself had crafted – that likely served as the basis for what is now Bill C-59. Moreover, a briefing note prepared by department officials for Oda in advance of the CMPDA meeting help explain the barrage of lobby pressure on the camcording issue as the Minister was advised that there was little evidence that the industry’s proposal would prove more effective that current Canadian law.

The CMPDA meeting focused on several issues, including counterfeiting and signal theft, yet it was a movie piracy amendment to the Criminal Code that was clearly top of mind. 

Read more ›

June 11, 2007 8 comments Columns