While critics frequently claim that Canada has weak intellectual property laws, yet another case demonstrates that penalties can be severe. A federal court in Vancouver has awarded $2.5 million in damages arising from the fake Louis Vuitton and Burberry handbags.
Archive for June, 2011
Canada’s Digital Economy Strategy: An Openness Framework
My chapter in The Internet Tree : The State of Telecom Policy in Canada 3.0 focuses on the need for openess in Canada’s digital strategy. I discuss Canada’s digital economy and strategy. Canada can implement an openess principle and frankly it makes sense. The possibilities I identified include increased government transparency, open access […]
Civil Society Groups Reject OECD Internet Policy Principles
A detailed explanation behind the decision can be found here, but a shorter release explains significant concerns behind language that would encourage steps toward filtering and blocking online content as well as the adoption of graduated response systems that could result in terminating Internet access. As CSISAC notes:
The final Communiqué advises OECD countries to adopt policy and legal frameworks that make Internet intermediaries responsible for taking lawful steps to deter copyright infringement. This approach could create incentives for Internet intermediaries to delete or block contested content, and lead to network filtering, which would harm online expression. In addition, as has already happened in at least one country, Internet intermediaries could voluntarily adopt “graduated response†policies under which Internet users’ access could be terminated based solely on repeated allegations of infringement. CSISAC believes that these measures contradict international and European human rights law.
The release concludes:
Cisco: Canada Below Asia, Europe on P2P Usage
Peter Nowak speaks to Cisco’s Thomas Barnett, who discusses miscontrued data on Internet use. Barnett says Canada actually ranks below the U.S. on per capita Internet use and that Canadians rank below countries in both Europe and Asia on peer-to-peer usage.
Google Transparency Project: Canadian Takedowns & User Data Requests
Google has posted updated data from its Transparency Report project. It reports that during the period from July – December 2010, there were seven Canadian court order to takedown content (all related to defamation claims) and 38 requests for disclosure of user data from Google accounts or services.