Post Tagged with: "public knowledge"

Why Canada Does Not Belong on the U.S. Piracy Watchlist

In what has become an annual rite of spring, each April the U.S. government releases its Special 301 report – often referred to as the Piracy Watch List – which claims to identify countries with sub-standard intellectual property laws. Canada has appeared on this list for many years alongside dozens of countries. In fact, over 70% of the world’s population is placed on the list and most African countries are not even considered for inclusion.

While the Canadian government has consistently rejected the U.S. list because it “basically lacks reliable and objective analysis”, this year I teamed up with Public Knowledge to try to provide the U.S. Trade Representative Office with something a bit more reliable and objective. Public Knowledge will appear at a USTR hearing on Special 301 today. In addition, last week we participated in meetings at the U.S. Department of Commerce and USTR to defend current Canadian copyright law and the proposed reforms.

The full submission on Canadian copyright is available here. It focuses on four main issues: how Canadian law provides adequate and effective protection, how enforcement is stronger than often claimed, why Canada is not a piracy haven, and why Bill C-11 does not harm the interests of rights holders (critics of Bill C-11 digital lock rules will likely think this is self-evident). The section challenging the piracy haven claims states the following:

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February 23, 2012 28 comments News

Public Knowledge’s IP3 Award

I am honoured to have been named one of the recipients of Public Knowledge’s IP3 Awards for 2010.  Public Knowledge does great work on digital rights issues and their IP3 Awards have identified some of the biggest contributors to those issues.  It’s a particular honour to be named this year […]

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August 4, 2010 17 comments News

The Trouble With ACTA

Public Knowledge's Sherwin Siy with a good piece on some of the problems with ACTA.  As Sherwin rightly notes, "ACTA's status as a trade negotiation seems less based in the nature of its substance than in the convenience that this designation provides."

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April 8, 2010 Comments are Disabled News

EFF & Public Knowledge Warn Against Using ACTA in USTR Special 301

The EFF and Public Knowledge have submitted a joint response to the USTR consultation on the Special 301 process.  The organizations warn against sanctioning countries for not implementing ACTA.

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February 19, 2010 Comments are Disabled News

Six Steps to Digital Copyright Sanity

Great speech by Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn that presents the case for digital copyright reform.

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November 8, 2007 Comments are Disabled News