Committees

The Trouble With ACTA: My Analysis of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

Earlier this year, I appeared at the European Parliament’s INTA Committee Workshop on ACTA where I reached the following conclusion: This report concludes that ACTA’s harm greatly exceeds its potential benefits. Given ACTA’s corrosive effect on transparency in international negotiations, the damage to international intellectual property institutions, the exclusion of […]

May 10, 2012 — 11 comments — Committees, News, Video

Assessing ACTA: Video of My Talk at the European Parliament

Yesterday I appeared at the European Parliament’s INTA Workshop on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. I have written a commissioned report for the committee on ACTA that should be released in a few weeks. In the meantime, my prepared remarks provide a good overview of the main arguments and this video […]

March 2, 2012 — 17 comments — Committees, News, Video

Assessing ACTA: My Appearance Before the European Parliament INTA Workshop on ACTA

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has mushroomed into a massive political issue in Europe in recent weeks with protests in hundreds of cities across the continent. Much of the focus has been on whether the European Parliament will give its approval to the agreement. The focal point of attention within the EP has been on the INTA committee, which holds a public workshop on the issue today. Interest in the workshop has been incredible – there are apparently 800 registrants with thousands more expected to watch the live stream.

Several months ago, I was approached to write one of several reports for the ACTA workshop. The report will be made public in the next couple of weeks, but I’ll be on the workshop’s first panel (along with Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Professor Christophe Geiger) to discuss my report and the agreement. The panel starts at 9:15 ET. I only have ten minutes for opening remarks, so the comments target a few of the findings from the report. A transcript of my planned remarks is posted with EP permission below:

March 1, 2012 — 9 comments — Committees, News

Why Isn’t YouTube Canadian?: My Appearance Before the Industry Committee

Earlier this month I appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, which is conducting a study on the e-commerce market in Canada. A transcript of the hearing is available here and audio of the hearing here. My prepared opening remarks are posted below. The discussion that followed touched a wide range of issues including copyright reform and competitiveness in the wireless and broadband sectors.

Appearance before the Standing Committee on Industry
October 17, 2011

Good afternoon. My name is Michael Geist. I am a law professor at the University of Ottawa where I hold the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law.

I appear before this committee today in a personal capacity representing only my own views.

I want to congratulate the committee for launching this study of e-commerce in Canada. It is a critically important issue deserving of greater attention. While the committee has identified some excellent questions, I’d boil the issue down to a single one:

Why have Canadian consumers embraced e-commerce, but Canada has failed to produce many significant global e-commerce success stories?

October 31, 2011 — 10 comments — Committees, News