Post Tagged with: "copyright"

The Final Tally from The Drake

Sam Bulte was briefly back in the political news recently as the Ignatieff campaign announced that they had received her endorsement. The release brought to mind the last election and the fundraising controversy generated by the fundraiser at the Drake Hotel. One of the most important aspects of election accountability and transparency are the Elections Act requirements for filing finance returns: candidates for national elections are required to submit a campaign finance return within 120 days of an election campaign and riding associations are required to submit annual reports by June 30th of the following calendar year.

For those interested in the numbers from The Drake, the information has been a long time in coming. Days before the May 23rd deadline for the election campaign return, Bulte's official agent requested a three-month extension citing lost data and claiming that both the campaign and its bank had lost the records which needed to be reconstructed from microfiche. Bulte's official agent filed the election campaign return days before the extension deadline and it has just been posted online. The Parkdale High Park Liberal riding association 2005 annual return has still not been posted. The riding association was granted a one-month extension in late June after it claimed computer problems. The association has still not filed that information in violation of the Elections Act and could face possible de-certification.

The election return does provide some insight into Bulte's backers, which is relevant both to close the book on the election controversy and to gauge who is willing to provide financial support to MPs that favour DMCA-style copyright reform.

September 11, 2006 — 4 comments — News

The Most Dangerous Treaty You’ve Never Heard About

With government negotiators and broadcast officials descending on Geneva this week to continue negotiations on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty, my weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) examines a proposal that started as an attempt to address the narrow issue of signal theft and has today mushroomed into a massive treaty that would grant broadcasters in some countries many new rights. Many people are questioning the impact of the treaty, which includes an exclusive retranmission right, an extension in the term of protection for broadcasts, and the decision to make the exceptions and limitations in the treaty optional. Indeed, even the Canadian delegation has wondered aloud whether the treaty would create a danger that some broadcasts might never fall into the public domain, effectively creating a perpetual broadcasting right.

The impact of the treaty on individuals and creators could be dramatic, potentially making it more difficult to record television shows for viewing at a later time, locking up content that is otherwise in the public domain, and necessitating that film makers obtain twice as many consents for the re-use of broadcast clips.

The potential cost of the new rights is also significant, with Canadian broadcast distributors, including the major telecommunications companies that have begun offering high-definition television services, fearing that the new retransmission right alone could result in more than a half billion dollars in new royalty payments flowing out of Canada to U.S. broadcasters.

September 11, 2006 — 1 comment — Columns

Is RIM’s Pearl a Ringtone Killer?

Bob Lefsetz astutely points out that RIM's new Pearl device not only features a music player, but also permits users to use the songs they upload as ringtones.

September 8, 2006 — 1 comment — News

30 Days of DRM – Day 20: Public Domain (Circumvention Rights)

Concerns about the impact of anti-circumvention legislation on public access and use of public domain materials is frequently addressed by arguing that the legislation only protects works that are subject to copyright. Since public domain materials fall outside that definition, works such as old public domain films that are enclosed with DRM could be lawfully circumvented. Those assurances notwithstanding, without the inclusion of a public domain circumvention right, circumventing DRM on works that combine public domain content with materials still subject to copyright could give rise to liability. In other words, pure public domain may be circumvented (provided you have the tools to circumvent), but once someone builds on a public domain work, they will benefit from the anti-circumvention provisions.

This is a particularly pronounced concern for historians, archivists, and film scholars since their ability to use public domain film or video may be limited by anti-circumvention legislation. For example, the distributor of a DRM'd DVD containing public domain films along with an additional commentary track would likely argue that there is sufficient originality such that the DVD is subject to copyright and that anti-circumvention provisions apply. While even supporters of the DMCA acknowledge that anti-circumvention legislation should not be used to privatize the public domain, they are loath to establish a full exception or circumvention right for public domain materials, arguing that all works contain some elements of the public domain and that a blanket exception could be used to cover virtually any circumvention.

A middle ground on this issue would include at least two provisions.

September 7, 2006 — 2 comments — News