Post Tagged with: "canadian heritage"

Copyright and Canada’s Trade Agreements: Point of Disagreement Between the Parties?

The Globe and Mail is reporting that the Conservatives will announce their commitment to completing new trade agreements with the European Union and India at an event this morning in Halifax. The focus on the EU deal – CETA – is noteworthy because there may be a divide between the […]

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March 31, 2011 4 comments News

Cdn Heritage Ctee Recommends Excluding Copyright From Trade Deals, Limits on Implementing ACTA

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has released its report on CETA and ACTA.  The report, which is based on hearings that featured Minister Peter van Loan, includes a notable recommendation with respect to ACTA implementation and future trade negotiations, including the ongoing Canada – European Union Trade Agreement discussions.  […]

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March 21, 2011 4 comments News

Canadian Heritage Officials Questioned CRTC Reports on Fee-For-Carriage

The Wire Report reports (sub req) that documents obtained under Access to Information reveal that Canadian Heritage department officials questioned CRTC data on the fee-for-carriage issue last year.  The report indicates “the CRTC does not always present the data in a complete manner” and that it appears to exaggerate the […]

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January 25, 2011 2 comments News

Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore on How Copyright Can Treat Consumers Unfairly

Canadian Heritage James Moore appeared on CBC’s Power & Politics yesterday to defend Bill C-32 and to speak out against the ACTRA proposal for extending the private copying levy (Industry Minister Tony Clement did the same in the Globe).  In doing so, he made the case for why the digital lock provisions in the bill are so problematic (at roughly 1:24:00).  According to Moore:

When I buy a movie, I’ve paid for the movie. To ask me to pay for it a second time through another device – and to assume that I’m doing illegal copying, to assume that I’m being a pirate, to assume that I’m thieving from people because I happen to own an MP3 player or a BluRay player or a laptop, I think treats consumers unfairly.

While Moore was thinking of the prospect of additional payments through a levy, the words apply equally to the digital lock provisions that make it an infringement for consumers to circumvent locks in order to watch the movie they’ve purchased on a second device. In fact, in some instances – for example, DVDs with non-North American region codes – it involves infringement for merely trying to access the content for the first time. 

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November 18, 2010 74 comments News

Consultation Lays Bare Divide Over Future of Canadian Book Industry

Late this summer, as thousands of Canadians were playing with their coveted new Apple iPads, the government quietly disclosed that it was conducting a regulatory review of Apple and its entry into the electronic book market.  The review caught many by surprise, with some left wondering why any government intervention was needed for another offering in the popular iTunes store.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the answer lies in Canada’s longstanding cultural policy and the significant protections it establishes over the publication, distribution and sale of books.  These include restrictions on foreign entry into the Canadian marketplace that reserve majority ownership for Canadians on the premise that an open market would hamper the ability of Canadian authors, publishers and booksellers to compete.

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October 27, 2010 17 comments Columns