Post Tagged with: "copyright"

Why Bill C-11’s Digital Lock Rules May Hurt Copyright Enforcement

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, which is continuing its study on intellectual property, received some important evidence last week from an Ottawa firm focused on IP enforcement issues. Harry Page, the CEO of UBM TechInsights, told the committee that Bill C-11 will actually impede the ability to enforce intellectual property rights. Page’s concern is the same as that expressed by businesses, consumer groups, education: overbroad digital lock rules. According to Page:

we have a concern that aspects of the Copyright Act may actually have an unintended consequence with respect to our local technology community and our ability help people in the protection of their intellectual property. Specifically, our concern is that the anti-circumvention provisions could create legal uncertainty where that would actually discourage the use of forensics to detect infringement of other forms of intellectual property. Even though the fact is that the circumvention of those protection measures actually have nothing to do with the copyright material under protection.

While the committee legislation is now passed and will soon be enacted we will continue our pledge to continue to work with the government and the appropriate bodies to ensure that the regulatory language bringing the act into force are clear and precise so they do not hinder the full and forceful protection of Canadian intellectual property and the protection of intellectual property creators and owners in the international marketplace.

June 12, 2012 — 10 comments — News

Government Says Vote on C-11 By June 18th

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan told the House of Commons last week that the government intends to have a third reading vote on Bill C-11, the copyright reform bill, by June 18th. âˆ“

June 11, 2012 — 16 comments — News

The IP Lobby’s Post-Bill C-11 Playbook: ACTA, SOPA, Warrantless Search and the Criminalization of IP

The Canadian intellectual property’s lead lobby group, the Canadian IP Council (itself a group within the Canadian Chamber of Commerce) released a new policy document yesterday that identifies its legislative priorities for the coming years. Anyone hoping that the SOPA protests, the European backlash against ACTA, and the imminent passage of Bill C-11 might moderate the lobby group demands will be sorely disappointed. Counterfeiting in the Canadian Market: How Do We Stop It? is the most extremist IP policy document ever released in Canada, calling for the implementation of ACTA, SOPA-style rules including website blocking and stopping search results from resolving, liability for advertisers and payment companies, massive surveillance at the border and through delivery channels including searching through individual packages without court oversight, and spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars on private enforcement.

This long post reviews the report, focusing on the case it makes for addressing counterfeiting concerns in Canada and on the resulting recommendations. The recommendations are divided into five main groups:

Introduce a Canadian SOPA
ACTA Implementation
New Search Powers Without Court Oversight
The Criminalization of Intellectual Property
Massive Increase in Public Spending Creating an IP Enforcement Subsidy

June 8, 2012 — 59 comments — News

Recording Industry Data Shows Canada a Global Leader For Paid Digital Downloads

The IFPI, the global recording industry association, recently released its Recording Industry in Numbers 2012, which provides detailed sales data from countries around the world. Years ago, the Canadian Recording Industry Association would promote its annual sales data, but it no longer does. Perhaps that is because the data tells a far different story from the one CRIA (now Music Canada) seeks to promote. While CRIA talks about “rebuilding the marketplace”, the industry’s own data indicates that Canada already stands among the global leaders in digital music sales.

The most obvious metric (and one relied upon by IFPI) is paid digital music downloads. According to the IFPI data, Canadians purchased 94.2 million single track downloads in 2011, making it the third largest market in the world (trailing only the U.S. and UK). The Canadian numbers represented a 39% increase in sales, far ahead of the U.S. (8% growth) and U.K. (10% growth). The data shows Canadians purchased more single track downloads than Germany or Japan, and more than double the sales in France, despite the fact that each of those countries has far larger populations. In fact, Canadian sales were larger than all the sales from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden combined. Moreover, given the current growth rates, Canada seems likely to pass the U.S. on per capita single track downloads in about 18 months (not coincidentally iTunes entered the Canadian market 18 months after it debuted in the U.S.).

June 6, 2012 — 13 comments — News

Copyright Board Ruling Attracts Global Attention

A recent Copyright Board of Canada ruling that establishes a second tariff for music played at weddings, parades, and other events is attracting international attention. Howard Knopf assesses the multiple payments now required for music played at a single event.

June 4, 2012 — 3 comments — News