Archive for October 13th, 2006

MPs Get Not-So-Straight Talk on Copyright

The Canadian Heritage Parliamentary Committee has received two briefings on copyright from department officials in recent weeks.  The first briefing was "copyright 101" briefing.  The second briefing, focusing on future reform plans, was more interesting.  The officials did their best to say as little as possible – when questioned about timing or specific issues, they found multiple ways to avoid directly answering the question. There were, however, several noteworthy exchanges including a moment when Charlie Angus (NDP) noted that many countries have yet to ratify WIPO (as opposed to the "coalition of the digital willing" that includes Azerbaijan and Botswana), and Danielle Bouvet from Heritage responded with obligatory "Canada is trying to have its own made-in-Canada legislation on copyright."  Further, Mauril Belanger (Liberal) spent a lot of time asking about the lobby groups who are asking questions about copyright and asked for a list of all groups that have met with Canadian Heritage and Industry Canada since January.

More troubling were two exchanges that may not have provided the MPs with a fully accurate sense of the law.

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October 13, 2006 5 comments News

Quebec Court Approves Sony Rootkit Settlement

Another Canadian court has approved the Sony rootkit class action settlement.  The Quebec Superior Court granted its approval earlier this week.

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October 13, 2006 Comments are Disabled News

CIHR Releases Draft Open Access Policy

CIHR, Canada's federal health research funding agency, has released new proposed requirements for open access to its funded research.  The requirements allow for a maximum six month publication delay before the research is made broadly available.  (Hat tip – Heather Morrison)

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October 13, 2006 Comments are Disabled News