Post Tagged with: "copyright for canadians"

Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen Slam Canadian DMCA

Two of Canada's leading papers have issued masthead editorials critical of the Canadian DMCA. The Vancouver Sun doesn't pull any punches in its review of Bill C-61:

the amendments are draconian. While Prentice attempted to sell them as a balance between the rights of content creators and consumers, it's clear that consumers – and in many cases, creators – can only lose should the new regime become law.

The editorial concludes:

The fact that the bill relies on the American method is not just a coincidence, either, as it is almost entirely the result of the intense pressure U.S. authorities placed on Ottawa. In contrast, there was precious little public consultation during drafting of the proposed law. Prentice claims that the bill is a "win-win," though it's not entirely clear who will win. What is clear is that if the bill becomes law, all consumers, and many content creators, are destined to lose.

The Ottawa Citizen, meanwhile, laments that "enforcement will be difficult, if not impossible, and it will limit uses of digital material that have nothing to do with piracy." It concludes that:

June 19, 2008 — Comments are Disabled — Stop CDMCA

U.S. Consul-General Claims Canadian Copyright Weakest in G-8

The U.S. may have gotten its Canadian copyright bill, but that hasn't stopped officials from continuing their campaign of unjustifiably slamming Canadian law. This week U.S. Consul-General Lewis Lukens told a conference audience that "Canada's current [intellectual property rights] protection may well be the weakest of any G-8 country, partly […]

June 19, 2008 — 7 comments — News

A Week in the Life of the Canadian DMCA: Part Three

The week in the life of the Canadian DMCA continues (day one, day two) with Josee.

In the morning, Josee teaches a class on media in the digital world. The class is conducted in a distance-learning classroom and includes both her students and students from a school in Edmonton using Alberta's SuperNet network. This is the second year that she has run the course and she is using the same lessons, which include extensive copies of articles for course materials. In the afternoon, Josee teaches a communications class, making use of a website that features a copyright and an “all rights reserved” notice. A student in the class presents a research assignment that features short excerpts from a DVD copy of the movie Broadcast News and passages that are cut-and-pasted from an electronic book that contains a digital lock. Josee is a big Calgary Flames fan. The Flames are playing that night with the game broadcast on pay-per-view. Josee has a dinner commitment, but decides to buy the game and record it with her PVR to watch when she gets home.

If Industry Minister Jim Prentice’s Bill C-61 becomes law, all of these copying activities arguably violate the law.

June 18, 2008 — Comments are Disabled — Stop CDMCA

A Week in the Life of the Canadian DMCA: Part Three

The week in the life of the Canadian DMCA continues (day one, day two) with Josee.

If Industry Minister Jim Prentice’s Bill C-61 becomes law, all of these copying activities arguably violate the law.

June 18, 2008 — 22 comments — News

How the U.S. Got Its Canadian Copyright Bill

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) examines the role that U.S. pressure played leading up to the introduction of Bill C-61 last week. I argue that the bill is the result of an intense public and private campaign waged by the U.S. government to pressure Canada into following its much-criticized digital copyright model. The U.S. pressure has intensified in recent years, particularly since there is a growing international trend toward greater copyright flexibility with countries such as Japan, New Zealand, and Israel either implementing or considering more flexible copyright standards.

The public campaign was obvious. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins was outspoken on the copyright issue, characterizing Canadian copyright law as the weakest in the G7 (despite the World Economic Forum ranking it ahead of the U.S.). The U.S. Trade Representatives Office (USTR) made Canada a fixture on its Special 301 Watch list, an annual compilation of countries that the U.S. believes have sub-standard intellectual property laws. The full list contains nearly 50 countries accounting for 4.4 billion people or approximately 70 percent of the world's population. Most prominently, last year U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn, along with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, escalated the rhetoric on Canadian movie piracy, leading to legislative reform that took just three weeks to complete.

The private campaign was even more important.

June 16, 2008 — 33 comments — Columns