Post Tagged with: "indu"

Industry Committee Report on Intellectual Property: A Case of Policy Laundering for CETA and TPP

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology released its report on the Intellectual Property Regime in Canada yesterday. The report is the result of lengthy hearings that focused on a wide range of IP issues including patent reform, trademarks, counterfeiting, and pharmaceutical protection. While most the recommendations are fairly innocuous – the committee identifies many issues for further study – there are essentially three main legislative reform recommendations. One involves limiting the scope of official marks, which appears to be the result of comments from Dalhousie law professor Rob Currie (echoed by CIPO’s Sylvain Laporte) expressing concern with governmental abuse of official marks in a way that may stifle innovation.

The other two are particularly interesting as they set the stage for the Canada – EU Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. First, the report recommends anti-counterfeiting measures similar to those required by CETA and found in Bill C-56.  Should criticism arise over Bill C-56 or CETA, the government will likely point to this report in support. 

The second involves a classic case of policy laundering as the government has manufactured support for CETA and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) provisions that were not even raised at committee.  The report recommends:

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March 19, 2013 5 comments News

Industry Committee Launches New Study on Intellectual Property

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, fresh off its e-commerce study, kicks off a new study on intellectual property this morning. The study will apparently focus on “the important role of intellectual property in Canadian innovation and leading edge technology.” Today’s hearing will feature witnesses from CIPO and […]

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May 10, 2012 4 comments News

Industry Committee Releases E-commerce Study

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology has released its final report on e-commerce in Canada (I appeared before the committee last October). The report has sixteen recommendations, but none are particularly innovative or surprising. They include emphasizing e-commerce in the forthcoming digital economy strategy, increasing affordability of Internet […]

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May 8, 2012 Comments are Disabled News

Full Transcript of My C-27 Committee Appearance

The full transcript of my appearance before the Industry Committee discussing Bill C-27 has now been posted online.

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June 25, 2009 1 comment Committees, News

Debating C-27: My Appearance Before the Industry Committee

Yesterday I appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to discuss Bill C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act.  The Conservatives, NDP, and Bloc have also demonstrated strong support for the bill.  The Liberals have been cautious, indicating that they support the principle but expressing "significant concerns" about specific provisions.  My opening tried to address some of those concerns and the dialogue that followed led to a lively debate.  My opening statement is posted below.  Audio of the hearing available here (the transcript is not yet online).

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June 12, 2009 2 comments Committees, News