Post Tagged with: "copyright"

International Publishers Threaten Canada With WTO Complaint Over Bill -11

An international publishing organization has escalated the rhetoric over Bill C-11 by making veiled threats about a WTO complaint against Canada if the bill’s fair dealing provision remains unchanged. The signatories claim “there is a real possibility that a WTO complaint will be brought against Canada” if the fair dealing […]

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April 25, 2012 4 comments News

Australia High Court Sides With ISP in Landmark Copyright Case

The Australian High Court has issued a landmark ruling that firmly sides with Internet providers over their liability and responsibility for alleged infringement on their networks. The closely watched case involves a lawsuit by the movie industry which claimed that iiNet, an Australian ISP, was liable for authorizing infringement by its subscribers. The unanimous court rejected the movie industry claims, finding that the ISP had no technical or contractual power to act. 

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April 20, 2012 4 comments News

Note to Publishers: Your Addiction to DRM is Killing You

Mathew Ingram posts on why publishers’ emphasis on DRM is hurting the industry, not infringers. Meanwhile, the e-book price fixing lawsuits in the U.S. appear to have migrated to Canada.

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April 19, 2012 3 comments News

Why You Should Care About the TPP

Public Knowledge has created an excellent new website on the copyright implications of the Trans Pacific Partnership. I wrote about the TPP and Canadian copyright earlier this year (here and here).

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April 19, 2012 Comments are Disabled News

Canada Post Files Copyright Lawsuit Over Crowdsourced Postal Code Database

Canada Post has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Geolytica, which operates GeoCoder.ca, a website that provides several geocoding services including free access to a crowdsourced compiled database of Canadian postal codes. Canada Post argues that it is the exclusive copyright holder of all Canadian postal codes and claims that GeoCoder appropriated the database and made unauthorized reproductions.

GeoCoder, which is being represented by CIPPIC, filed its statement of defence yesterday (I am on the CIPPIC Advisory Board but have not been involved in the case other than providing a referral to CIPPIC when contacted by GeoCoder’s founder). The defence explains how GeoCoder managed to compile a postal code database by using crowdsource techniques without any reliance on Canada Post’s database. The site created street address look-up service in 2004 with users often including a postal code within their query. The site retained the postal code information and gradually developed its own database with the postal codes (a system not unlike many marketers that similarly develop databases by compiling this information). The company notes that it has provided access to the information for free for the last eight years and that it is used by many NGOs for advocacy purposes.

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April 13, 2012 38 comments News