Articles by: Michael Geist

Canadian Podcasting Royalty Down But Not Out

In the annals of Canadian copyright royalty fights, few can match Tariff 22 for pure stamina and longevity.  First introduced in 1995 by SOCAN, thirteen years later the proposal is still the source of much disagreement.  Indeed, years after the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an attempt to implement a tariff on Internet service providers for the music transmitted over their networks, the Copyright Board of Canada issued a new decision on Friday that addressed the prospect of establishing a royalty on hundreds of thousands of websites ranging from social network giants such as Facebook to thousands of Canadian podcasters.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that while Friday's decision is not limited to social networks and podcasters – the decision established royalty rates for, among others, Internet-based radio stations that are deemed to be high users of music (5.3 percent of revenues), electronic games sites (0.8 percent of revenues), and non-commercial radio station webcasts (1.9 percent) – it is the "other sites" category that encompasses everyone from MySpace to a solitary website featuring a small amount of music that will rightly attract the most attention.

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October 27, 2008 4 comments Columns

Canadian Podcasting Royalty Down But Not Out

Appeared in the Toronto Star on October 27, 2008 as Proposed Podcasting Royalty Fight Not Over In the annals of Canadian copyright royalty fights, few can match Tariff 22 for pure stamina and longevity.  First introduced in 1995 by SOCAN, thirteen years later the proposal is still the source of […]

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October 27, 2008 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

Government Should Shuffle Ministries and Ministers

According to several media reports, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will unveil his new cabinet sometime in the next week. The big question revolves around the vacancy at Foreign Affairs, with either Industry Minister Jim Prentice or Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon seen as the likely replacement (if Prentice goes to Foreign Affairs, some speculate that Cannon will take over at Industry). While the identity of the Industry Minister – whether new or old – matters a great deal to those following issues such as copyright, telecom, and privacy, the government should consider something much more proactive. 

The not-so-secret reality of the Industry Minister portfolio is that it is simply far too large to give all the issues under its mandate the necessary attention.  Manufacturing, automotive, telecom, foreign investment, competition, consumer affairs, intellectual property, scientific research and dozens of other issues all fall under the same umbrella. While this was the intention back in the early 1990s when Industry Canada was formed as a "super Ministry" that merged Consumer and Corporate Affairs with Communications, this experiment has failed.  With so many issues demanding attention, it should come as little surprise that many issues either fall under the radar screen or take months to be addressed. 

The solution?  

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October 23, 2008 5 comments News

Court Awards $50,000 in Damages Over Net Postings

A Canadian court has ordered an Edmonton man to pay anti-hate fighter Richard Warman $50,000 in damages arising from a series of defamatory Internet postings.

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October 23, 2008 2 comments News

Survey Says Ten Percent of Online Canadian Shoppers Hit By ID Theft

A new Ipsos Reid survey claims that ten percent of Canadian online shoppers have reported experiencing ID theft.

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October 23, 2008 Comments are Disabled News