I have been critical of the Parliamentary IP Caucus, so I should be equally quick to praise where appropriate. Tonight I was invited to appear before the caucus and given two full hours to make a presentation and participate in an engaging discussion on copyright. The meeting was well attended with members from all four parties in attendance.
My powerpoint slides are posted below (the first half of the talk covered the same ground as the Copyright Myths presentation I gave a couple of weeks ago). My key messages centred on putting copyright reform in context and getting the key content issues right. From context perspective, I highlighted:
- the need to recognize both the importance and limits of copyright
- the lack of recent consultation
- how Canadian copyright law is not nearly as weak as critics suggest
- why the WIPO Internet treaties provide great flexibility in implementation
- why focusing on copyright may undermine the efforts to address commercial counterfeiting
- how there are many voices expressing concern with a Canadian DMCA approach
I was also asked about my recommendations for reform. I provided nine points:
