Post Tagged with: "copyright"

Canadian DMCA Placed on the Notice Paper

As expected, the government has placed the new copyright bill on the Notice Paper for next week.  This confirms widespread rumours that Industry Minister Jim Prentice will introduce the Canadian DMCA next week, most likely on Tuesday.

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December 7, 2007 16 comments News

U.S. Public Radio on Canadian DMCA

Jon Gordon's Future Tense program on American Public Media covers the Canadian DMCA story (MP3 version) .

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December 7, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

Ten Questions for Industry Minister Jim Prentice

CBC's Search Engine received hundreds of questions for Industry Minister Jim Prentice on the forthcoming copyright bill, yet the Minister advised the program yesterday that he would not take any questions until the bill is introduced.  Prentice's unwillingness to respond to Canadians' concerns speaks volumes, but on the assumption that he will eventually defend his Canadian DMCA, I would ask the following ten questions:

1.   After you unveiled the government's approach to the release of new spectrum, you indicated that you granted a full hour to each company involved in the issue to state their case.  It has also been reported that you have met with U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins on the copyright issue.  Would you please advise which other stakeholders you've met with on copyright reform?  Have you personally met with consumer groups, privacy commissioners, education groups, researchers, and creator groups such as the Canadian Music Creators Coalition and Appropriation Art, to hear their concerns?

2.   The public was last consulted on digital copyright reform more than six years ago in 2001.  Given the dramatic change since that time, why has the government not consulted the public on this issue before introducing major copyright reforms? Given the lack of consultation, will the government commit to full committee hearings that grants everyone who wants to appear the right to do so?

3.   While the government is clearly committed to implementing the WIPO Internet treaties, those treaties feature considerable flexibility.  Leaving aside the debate over whether the treaties are good policy for Canada, there is no debating that Canada need not adopt a maximalist, U.S.-style DMCA in order to be compliant with the treaties.  Given that flexibility (which was embraced in the 2005 Bill C-60 bill that died on the order paper), why would you revert unnecessarily to a more restrictive approach?

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December 4, 2007 13 comments News

Songwriters Association of Canada Calls for Legalized P2P File Sharing

The Songwriters Association of Canada has released an important new proposal calling for the legalization of peer-to-peer file sharing.  The SAC has proposed the creation of a new right – the Right to Equitable Remuneration for Music File Sharing.  The new right would make it legal to share music on […]

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December 3, 2007 37 comments News

Ontario Chamber of Commerce Floats Counterfeit Numbers

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce is out today with a new report on intellectual property which recycles many of the demands of the copyright lobby – WIPO ratification, tougher penalties, and a handful of task forces.  What makes the report unique, however, is its claims about the size and scope of the counterfeiting issue in Canada.  The report includes the RCMP's discredited $30 billion claim and even though the RCMP has backed away from it, the report states that it is a "widely accepted" estimate. 

The Chamber's press release trumpets $22.5 billion in counterfeiting losses for Canada of which it says $9 billion comes from Ontario.  How did it arrive at this figure? 

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December 3, 2007 3 comments News