The latest round of lobbying reports, which covers meetings for registered lobbyists, have been posted online. The Canadian Recording Industry Association led the way on copyright in January with the following meetings: January 9, 2009 – Barry Sookman meeting with Tanya Peat, policy advisor to Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore […]
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Peeking Behind Canada’s Copyright Complaint Against China at the WTO
Late last month, the World Trade Organization released a much-anticipated decision involving a U.S.-led complaint against China over its intellectual property laws. Canada was among a number of countries that participated in the case, which alleged that China’s domestic laws, border measures, and criminal penalties for intellectual property violations do not comply with its international treaty obligations.
On April 25, 2007, David Emerson, then the Minister of International Trade, issued a press release announcing Canada's participation, stating that it was "based on concerns expressed by Canadian stakeholders on a range of issues related to China's intellectual property rights regime." Yet, as reported in my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) according to dozens of internal Canadian government documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, Canadian officials, unable to amass credible evidence of harm to Canadian interests, harboured significant doubts about the wisdom of joining the case and ultimately did so only under the weight of great pressure from the United States.
The Music Industry’s Digital Reversal
My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) opens by noting that Canadians focused on hockey success and economic doom-and-gloom over the past month may have missed a series of events that suggest a dramatic shift for the recording industry. For much of the past decade, the industry has relied on three pillars to combat peer-to-peer file sharing – lawsuits, locks, and legislation.
The lawsuits, which began in 2003, resulted in suits against more than 35,000 alleged file sharers in the United States. The locks, which refers to digital locks that seek to impose copy-controls on music files, was a requirement for online services such as iTunes before it was given the green light, while the lobbying for legislative reforms to support the use of copy-controls led Canada to introduce the failed Bill C-61.
In a matter of weeks, the foundation of each of these pillars has either crumbled or shown serious signs of cracking.
The Music Industry’s Digital Reversal
Appeared in the Toronto Star on January 12, 2009 as The Music Industry's Digital Reversal Canadians focused on hockey success and economic doom-and-gloom over the past month may have missed a series of events that suggest a dramatic shift for the recording industry. For much of the past decade, the […]
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