Following the ninth round of ACTA negotiations in Lucerne, Switzerland in July, it became apparent (after the updated ACTA leaked) that the U.S. had caved on some of its demands to include DMCA-like anti-circumvention language in ACTA. The ACTA provisions still go further than the WIPO Internet treaties by mandating […]
News
Estimating the Economic Impact of Google Book Search
A new article forthcoming in the prestigious Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA attempts to estimate the economic impact of Google Book Search on the publishing industry. The study finds no evidence of negative impact and some evidence of a positive impact.
Writers Groups Attack Fair Dealing Reform in Copyright Bill
From our perspective the biggest weakness in the bill is the addition of the word ‘education’ to the purposes of “fair dealing†without clear legislative guidance on how this amended provision of the Copyright Act will work in conjunction with other, more specific exceptions for education. We think that this new fair dealing provision will result in serious damage to the cultural sector and to Canada’s embryonic knowledge economy and, together with other new exceptions, negatively affect Canada’s professional writers.
The letter adds “we see that without further clarification of some provisions there will be unintended consequences and years of costly litigation.”
It is important to emphasize again that this is fear mongering that is simply inaccurate.
Postmedia on Access Copyright Tariff Proposal
Postmedia covers the mounting concern over the Access Copyright tariff proposal with a story on how the tariff could stifle Internet users and researchers.
Was No Copyright the Real Reason Behind Germany’s Industrial Expansion?
Many people have written to point to this interesting article in Der Spiegel, which points to a new book that concludes that German’s rapid industrial expansion in the 19th century may have been due to the absence of copyright law.
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