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Canadian Musicians vs. Canadian Recording Industry Spokesperson

The government continues to play catch-up with the copyright consultation submissions (my submission appeared on Friday).  It has just posted two interesting contrasting submissions: the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, actual Canadian musicians who warn against DMCA-style reforms and Don Hogarth, CRIA's communication person, who warns against people who warn against […]

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October 25, 2009 3 comments News

Ontario Government To Cover Retroactive Access Copyright Bills

The Ontario Ministry of Education has reportedly agreed to pay about $16 million in retroactive copyright fees to Access Copyright.  The fees arise as a result of a recent Copyright Board decision.

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October 25, 2009 2 comments News

Amazon Appeals Patent Board Decision on One-Click

Amazon.com has filed an appeal with the Federal Court over a recent Canada Patent Appeal Board decision that rejected its one-click patent.

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October 25, 2009 3 comments News

MichaelGeist.ca Ups and Downs

Apologies for the downtime of this website over the past few days due to hack and technical problems.  Hopefully the site is back up for good.

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October 24, 2009 4 comments News

CRTC Sets Net Neutrality Framework But Leaves Guarantees More Complaints

The CRTC's net neutrality (aka traffic management) decision is out and though it does not go as far as some advocates might hope, it unquestionably advances the ball forward on several important fronts.  When considering the decision, it is important to remember that 12 months ago, there was virtually no ISP disclosure of traffic management practices and even an unwillingness to acknowledge that there was an issue.  Today's CRTC decision signifies that traffic management is not a free-for-all and the days of ISPs arguing that they can do whatever they please on their networks is over.  That said, it also guarantees that traffic management practices such as throttling will continue and it is going to take more complaints to concretely address the issue.

The key elements of the decision on retail services:

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October 21, 2009 35 comments News