An Industry Canada spokesperson on the validity of the USTR Special 301 list: “Canada does not recognize the validity of the Special 301 process, which relies on industry allegations rather than empirical evidence and analysis.” Note that the article says I said that Canada did not need to pass anti-circumvention […]
News
CETA Update: EU Continues To Press on IP
The Department of Foreign Affairs held a call today with various groups to provide an update on the Canada – European Union Comprehensive Trade Agreement negotiations. The department indicated that there has been progress on virtually all issues and the broad shape of the deal is being outlined. On intellectual […]
The U.S. DMCA vs. Bill C-32: Comparing the Digital Lock Exceptions
From a Canadian perspective, the U.S. decision – combined with the recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling linking circumvention to copyright and the USTR decision to cave on the digital lock rules in ACTA – provides a timely reminder of the mistake that is the digital lock rules in C-32.
Looking back, Industry Minister Tony Clement said he wanted forward-looking legislation designed to last ten years, yet the scope of Bill C-32’s anti-circumvention exceptions became outdated in less than ten weeks. Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, when not calling critics “radical extremists,” emphasized that Bill C-32 was not identical to the DMCA. While he had the notice-and-notice system in mind, weeks later his comments became accurate since it turns out the DMCA is far less restrictive than C-32.
Just how badly does the Canadian bill stack up? On the two key issues in the bill – digital locks and fair dealing – Canada is far more restrictive than the U.S. Consider:
Next ACTA Meeting “Intercessional Meeting” Not Formal Round
David Hammerstein reports that the next series of ACTA talks will be an “intercessional meeting” in Washington starting on August 16, 2010. The talks will not be treated as a formal round, which has the effect of decreasing transparency since no agenda or statement will be released.
U.S. Developments Demonstrate Canada’s C-32 Digital Lock Rules More Restrictive Than DMCA
First, a significant new appellate court case from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that the restrictions on circumventing an “access control” (ie. a digital lock that restricts access to a work rather than a copy control which restricts copying of a work) are far more limited than previously thought. With language that bears a striking similarity to those arguing circumvention should be permitted for lawful purposes, the U.S. appeals court states:
Merely bypassing a technological protection that restricts a user from viewing or using a work is insufficient to trigger the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision. The DMCA prohibits only forms of access that would violate or impinge on the protections that the Copyright Act otherwise affords copyright owners.
In other words, the U.S. court has found that DMCA is limited to guarding access controls only to the extent that circumvention would violate the copyright rights of the copyright owner. This is very similar to what many groups have been arguing for in the context of Canadian legal reform.
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 236: Robert Diab on the Return of Lawful Access
