Michael Geist

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Net Neutrality rally at San Francisco City Hall #BayAreaSpeaks #NetNeutrality #protest by Steve Rhodes https://flic.kr/p/q9ZTkg (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

CRTC Chair Opens the Door to Weakening Canadian Net Neutrality Rules

The Canadian government’s strong pro-net neutrality position has served as its telecom policy foundation with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other government ministers frequently citing Canada’s commitment to the policy. In fact, the current review of broadcast and telecommunications legislation described net neutrality as “a key Government priority given its importance for freedom of expression and the ‘innovation without permission’ ethos that underpins the success of the Internet.”

Yet despite the emphasis on strong net neutrality rules, CRTC Chair Ian Scott used a keynote speech last week to open the door to watering down Canadian net neutrality rules, noting his desire for “flexibility” with the legislation.

November 5, 2018 — 8 comments — News

Income Tax by Images Money TaxRebate.org.uk (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/9VxbfZ

Making Sense of the Canadian Digital Tax Debate, Part 6: Ensuring Internet Companies Pay Their Fair Share of Income Tax

The series on digital tax issues concludes with the most conventional tax issue: how to ensure that large corporations pay their fair share of income tax for profits generated in Canada (series posts on digital sales tax, Netflix tax, Internet access taxes, digital device taxes, and tax in support of newspapers). The income tax issue was raised by the NDP earlier this year, who called on the government to ensure that Internet companies pay taxes on profits made in Canada.

November 2, 2018 — 2 comments — News

Death of Print 5 by darius norvilas (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/7soSUn

Making Sense of the Canadian Digital Tax Debate, Part 5: Income Tax Reform to Support the News Media

The series on digital tax policy issues has touched on various tax measures that target consumers: digital sales tax, Netflix tax, Internet access taxes, and digital device taxes. The series returns with a post examining a business-focused tax proposal, namely lobbying efforts to amend the Income Tax Act to change the rules on advertising deductions in the hope of shifting ad spending to Canadian media organizations.

November 1, 2018 — 3 comments — News

Patent pending by Jim Grey https://flic.kr/p/TQwcKc (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Taking on the Trolls: Canadian Government To Regulate Patent Demand Letters

The Canadian government’s Bill C-86, its Budget Implementation Act, features several notable provisions designed to curb intellectual property misuse. I posted yesterday on the rejection of “harmonized” statutory damages with the copyright collective system and new limits on the content of notices under the copyright notice-and-notice rules, with the government banning the inclusion of settlement demands or other requests for payment. Internet providers that receive notices that do not comply with the requirements will not be required to forward them to their subscribers. The bill also takes on patent misuse, including rolling out a framework for regulating patent demand letters in an effort to stop patent trolling.

October 31, 2018 — Comments are Disabled — News

Copyright Reform 2017 by Giulia Forsythe https://flic.kr/p/T5g5tS (CC0 1.0)

Canadian Government Rejects Access Copyright’s Demand for Statutory Damages

Earlier this year, I wrote about lobbying pressure to “harmonize” statutory damages for copyright collectives. Access Copyright, which supported the measure, argued that the massive escalation in potential damage awards were needed for three reasons: deterrence, promotion of settlement negotiations, and efficient use of court resources. Yet as I argued in this post, none of the arguments rang true.

After months of internal wrangling, the government unveiled its proposed reforms to the Copyright Board yesterday as part of Bill C-86, its Budget Implementation Act. The bill contains many changes requested by copyright stakeholders. With respect to the statutory damages provisions, however, it has rightly left the statutory damages distinction between certain collectives in place, meaning that Access Copyright will not be able to rely on statutory damages for non-payment of tariffs, relying instead on actual damages (if any).

October 30, 2018 — 3 comments — News