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Thursday February 14, 2013 |
The IIPA, the umbrella lobby group that represents the major movie,
music, and entertainment software lobby groups, released its recommendations
for the U.S. piracy watch list last week. Those that thought
passing Bill C-11 - the Canadian copyright reform bill that
contained some of the most restrictive
digital lock rules in the world - would satisfy U.S. groups will be
disappointed. The IIPA wants Canada back on the piracy watch list,
one notch below the Special Watch List (where the US placed Canada
last year).
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Friday October 12, 2012 |
This week, the government was formally
included in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations with
the next formal round scheduled for New Zealand in early
December. I've written extensively about the copyright
implications of the TPP as leaked versions of the intellectual
property chapter and demands from U.S. copyright lobby groups point
to a significant re-write of Bill C-11. Areas targeted for
reform in Canada include ISP liability, statutory damages, and
extending the term of copyright.
An additional issue has begun to attract increasing attention as the
same lobby groups seeking copyright reforms have also put
dismantling Canadian content regulations on the table. The
IIPA, the lead lobby group for the movie, music, and software
industries, told
the U.S. government:
IIPA strongly believes that the TPP market access chapters
must be comprehensive in scope, strictly avoiding any sectoral
carve outs that preclude the application of free trade
disciplines. We note that several market access barriers
cited by USTR in its 2012 National Trade Estimate report on Canada
involve, for example, content quota requirements for television,
radio, cable television, direct-to-home broadcast services,
specialty television, and satellite radio services. It
should be possible to address such barriers to trade in the TPP,
and thus augment consumers’ access to diverse content, while
promoting local cultural expressions.
Many concerned with Canadian culture have
reacted
with
alarm
as the U.S. government has focused
on potential changes to television and radio content requirements,
classification systems for movies, and online video.
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Monday September 24, 2012 |
More than ten years of contentious debate over Canadian copyright
law appeared to come to a conclusion in late June when Bill C-11
passed its final legislative hurdle and received royal assent. Yet
despite characterizing the bill as a "vital building block", the
copyright lobby that pressured the government to impose restrictive
rules on digital locks and tougher penalties for copyright
infringement is already demanding further reforms that include
rolling back many key aspects of the original bill.
Unlike the last round of copyright reform that featured national
consultations and open committee hearings, my weekly technology law
column (Toronto
Star version, homepage
version) notes this time the lobby groups are hoping to use
secretive trade negotiations to forge legislative change. Later this
week, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, an umbrella
organization that represents movie, music, and software
associations, will urge the U.S. government to pressure Canada to
enact further reforms as part of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade
negotiations.
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Monday September 24, 2012 |
Appeared
in the Toronto Star on September 23, 2012 as Copyright Lobby
Demands Rollback of Recent Canadian Reforms in Secretive Trade
Deal
More than ten years of contentious debate over Canadian copyright
law appeared to come to a conclusion in late June when Bill C-11
passed its final legislative hurdle and received royal assent. Yet
despite characterizing the bill as a "vital building block", the
copyright lobby that pressured the government to impose restrictive
rules on digital locks and tougher penalties for copyright
infringement is already demanding further reforms that include
rolling back many key aspects of the original bill.
Unlike the last round of copyright reform that featured national
consultations and open committee hearings, this time the lobby
groups are hoping to use secretive trade negotiations to forge
legislative change. Later this week, the International Intellectual
Property Alliance, an umbrella organization that represents movie,
music, and software associations, will urge the U.S. government to
pressure Canada to enact further reforms as part of the Trans
Pacific Partnership trade negotiations.
The IIPA, which recently submitted its position on Canada’s entry to
the TPP as part of a U.S. regulatory process, takes particular issue
with the role of Internet providers in enforcing Canadian copyright
law. The Canadian "notice-and-notice" approach, which requires
providers to forward thousands of infringement allegation notices to
their subscribers, strikes a balance between effective enforcement
and free speech, while preserving users’ privacy.
The model has begun to attract global attention with countries such
as Chile adopting it within its own domestic law. The IIPA sharply
criticizes the approach, however, calling for dramatic reforms. It
argues that Canadian law "fails to provide meaningful incentives for
network service providers to co-operate with copyright owners to
deal with copyright infringements that take place in the digital
network environment."
Instead, the copyright lobby wants Canada to implement measures that
would require Internet providers "to take action to prevent
recidivists from repeatedly using their services to commit copyright
infringement." The plain language demand: a termination system that
would cut off Internet access for subscribers accused of
infringement.
The IIPA also wants Canada to undo statutory damages changes from
Bill C-11 that created a liability cap of $5,000 for non-commercial
infringement. It claims that the non-commercial cap renders
statutory damages "ineffective in achieving its goals of full
compensation and deterrence in the online environment."
Even with the change, Canada remains one of the only developed
countries with statutory damages that create the prospect of
multi-million dollar damage awards for commercial infringement. The
government created the non-commercial cap because it was
uncomfortable with rules that could spur thousands of lawsuits
against individuals.
Bill C-11's new consumer-focused provisions, which include
exceptions for non-commercial user generated content and educational
uses, also come in for criticism. Despite repeated assurances by
Canadian officials that the law is compliant with international
standards, the group warns against the exceptions by urging the U.S.
government to remain "vigilant against any effort by Canada…to
weaken or relax the 3-step test."
On top of the criticisms of the newly enacted copyright reforms, the
IIPA also wants the U.S. government to use the TPP to force Canada
to enact a long list of additional changes to the law. These include
extending the term of copyright, providing new powers to Canadian
border guards to inspect shipments without court oversight, and
introducing new criminal penalties for copyright and trademark
violations.
For years, critics have warned that caving to U.S. copyright
lobbying would only invite more demands in an endless cycle of
unfounded claims of "weak" Canadian copyright accompanied by
pressure for further domestic reforms. Even the most cynical,
however, might not have predicted that a new round of demands would
surface before the ink was dry on Bill C-11.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and
E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can
reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.
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