Last month, the IIPA, a lobby group representing a handful entertainment industries, released its annual submission to the United States Trade Representative criticizing the copyright laws of dozens of countries around the world. That submission will likely play an influential role in next month's USTR Special 301 Report. As usual, Canada was on their list, leading to the usual press coverage claiming that Canada is a laggard on copyright reform. While Canadian officials have criticized the USTR Special 301 report, to my knowledge the government has never made a formal submission defending Canadian policies.
This year, the USTR received 24 submissions, including comments from three countries – Israel, Poland, and Turkey (the USTR has posted the non-governmental submissions for the first time this year). The Israeli submission has been posted online and provides a great model for how countries should be defending their national interests. The submission, which characterizes the IIPA submission as containing the "usual inaccuracies and hyperbole," includes a great defense of Israeli copyright policy. For example, on the issue of anti-circumvention legislation it notes:
