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Fact and Fiction

With the government likely to introduce copyright legislation sometime in the next week or two, Canadians are likely to face a barrage of rhetoric from copyright owners, alternately saluting the government for introducing a copyright bill while also criticizing them for not going far enough to protect Canada's cultural industries.

I am certain I will have a thing or two to say about the bill once it is introduced, though assuming the government follows the plan unveiled in March, Canada is likely to get a bill that overwhelmingly addresses copyright owner interests (making available right, protection for technical protection measures rather than from them, new copyright rights for photographers and performers of sound recordings, etc.) with little for millions of individual Canadians other than the cold comfort that it could have been worse (the U.S. implementation of TPM protection and the adoption of a notice and takedown system, for example). There will be nothing on reforming the statutory damages provisions, moving toward fair use (as the Australians are considering), eliminating crown copyright, providing for greater transparency of the copyright collectives so Canadians have a better understanding of where the hundreds of millions of dollars collected each year ends up, and embracing policies that support the incredible flourishing of creativity that we are seeing on a daily basis today online.

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June 8, 2005 Comments are Disabled News

File Sharing and Canadian Copyright Law

My regular Law Bytes column (freely available hyperlinked version; Toronto Star version, homepage version) features the second part of an examination of the recent Canadian Federal Court of Appeal decision involving the recording industry's attempt to identify 29 alleged file sharers. After considering the privacy issues last week, this column moves to the copyright implications by considering three questions: can the Canadian recording industry sue file sharers? Can it win such suits? And what legal reverberations might ensue if it does win?

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June 6, 2005 Comments are Disabled Columns

Debating Domain Names

It is not often that Members of Parliament engage in debates on domain name policies so yesterday’s extended debate in the House of Commons is worth noting.

The impetus for the debate is the registration by an opponent of same sex marriage legislation of domain names bearing the name of MPs who favour the legislation. The sites are pretty deceptive. For example, the Don Boudria site looks like it could be the MP’s official site with only a disclaimer that it is not the official site.

The legal response to this issue is pretty complex. CIRA’s domain name dispute resolution policy is expressly designed to protect good faith criticism sites. That provision was adopted out of concern for the impact under the ICANN UDRP which has seen many legitimate criticism sites transferred under the questionable claims of cybersquatting.

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June 3, 2005 Comments are Disabled News

Shaw Charging for VoIP Quality of Service Enhancement

Mark Evans of the National Post reports this morning (subscription required) that Primus says that its VoIP offering has been subject to spotty service from Shaw, a leading cable provider in B.C. and Alberta.

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May 31, 2005 1 comment News

File Sharing Decision States the Case For Privacy

My regular Law Bytes column (free hyperlinked version, Toronto Star version homepage version) is the first of a two-part look at the recent Federal Court of Appeal decision involving CRIA's attempt to identify 29 alleged file sharers.

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May 30, 2005 Comments are Disabled Columns