Weeks after the World Economic Forum ranked Canadian intellectual property protection fourth among G8 countries, another international study has again ranked Canada as an IP protection leader. Taylor Wessing, in association with Managing Intellectual Property, has released the Global Intellectual Property Index (study requires free registration). Canada fares well for patent, trademark, and copyright protection, ranking 6th of 22 countries worldwide. The study involved hundreds of senior experts from around the world.
The copyright rankings are particularly instructive. While the U.S. ranks first (which the survey attributes to the vocal movie and music lobby), there is a second tier of seven countries that are closely packed together. Canada is among that group, ranking fifth overall (once again it ranks 4th in the G8, this time behind the U.S., U.K., and Germany, but ahead of France, Japan, Italy, and Russia). The copyright top ten are:
- U.S.
- U.K.
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Canada
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Singapore
- France
- Israel
Countries lower down in the rankings include Japan, Spain, South Korea, India, and China. Yet further evidence that the claims that Canada's international reputation has been harmed by our intellectual property laws are the stuff of fiction.
Somebody tell Jim Prentice
Quick squelch this report. Jim Prentice won’t be able to get his Draconian DMCA Wannabe Copyright bill in if the Canadian Public is allowed to see this
Are you sure?
I’m not certain I want to be in this list, considering #1 got there by harrassment, unlawful surveillance and suing the ?&* off their customers, and the listmakers acknowledged that. What a great #1.
And even if they are not in top 10, Japan has insane prices for their CDs and DVDs, and it doesn’t stop people from being mostly law abiding, having little to no torrent activities, and most people enjoying the original products…
Again, I think we should be ashamed of that position and try to be as low as possible in the list.
All “3 strikes and you’re out” will do is dramatically increase the amount of wifi hacking that goes on. Just for kicks, I hacked my own wifi network on the cheapest laptop I could find and it took less than an hour with a stong WPA key and as much experience as reading one online tutorial.
It’s like the lock on your car: it will only keep the honest people honest. Except in this case, when someone steals your car and kills someone with it, you’ll be the one who goes to jail for owning the car.