Post Tagged with: "RIAA"

Drake by Anton Mak (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/FSVNGy

U.S. Lobby Groups Take Aim At Canadian Copyright Law in NAFTA Comments: No Balance, No Fair Use, & No Cultural Exception

The U.S. just completed its consultation on negotiating objectives in the upcoming NAFTA re-negotiations (the Canadian consultation is open until July 18, 2017). There are well over a thousand comments, but a review of the lobby groups who pay attention to copyright reveals that they hope to use the talks to make significant changes to Canadian copyright law. This was expected – I touched on the trade dimension of domestic reforms in my recent Policy Options piece on the 2017 copyright review – but the extent to which many groups want to toss aside foundational elements of Canadian copyright law may still surprise.

For example, the Copyright Alliance, which represents a wide array of lobby group associations and Hollywood type interests, rejects the inclusion of balance as an objective in copyright law. It notes that the TPP included a balance provision and warns against something similar in NAFTA. Ironically, the TPP provision was non-enforceable, stating only:

Read more ›

June 22, 2017 13 comments News

Interview on the Music Industry Going After Google

appeared on Rob Breakenridge’s Show to discuss the state of music industry. They have successfully demanded  legislative reform, obtained millions in funding and now they are going after Google because they believe it provides easy access to illegal sources. Listen to or download the podcast here.

Read more ›

January 23, 2014 Comments are Disabled News Interviews, Tv / Radio

The Music Industry’s Digital Reversal

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) opens by noting that Canadians focused on hockey success and economic doom-and-gloom over the past month may have missed a series of events that suggest a dramatic shift for the recording industry.  For much of the past decade, the industry has relied on three pillars to combat peer-to-peer file sharing – lawsuits, locks, and legislation.  

The lawsuits, which began in 2003, resulted in suits against more than 35,000 alleged file sharers in the United States.  The locks, which refers to digital locks that seek to impose copy-controls on music files, was a requirement for online services such as iTunes before it was given the green light, while the lobbying for legislative reforms to support the use of copy-controls led Canada to introduce the failed Bill C-61.

In a matter of weeks, the foundation of each of these pillars has either crumbled or shown serious signs of cracking.

Read more ›

January 12, 2009 8 comments Columns

The Music Industry’s Digital Reversal

Appeared in the Toronto Star on January 12, 2009 as The Music Industry's Digital Reversal Canadians focused on hockey success and economic doom-and-gloom over the past month may have missed a series of events that suggest a dramatic shift for the recording industry.  For much of the past decade, the […]

Read more ›

January 12, 2009 1 comment Columns Archive

RIAA Abandoning P2P Lawsuits

The Wall Street Journal reports that the RIAA has decided to abandon its strategy of suing individual file sharers.  The music lobby group has sued more than 35,000 people since 2003.  Instead, the RIAA plans to focus on a three-strikes and you're out approach with ISPs that would involve terminating […]

Read more ›

December 19, 2008 23 comments News