Post Tagged with: "industry committee"

The CACN’s Roadmap for Change

Over the next two days, two House of Commons committees will move toward finalizing their recommendations to address Canadian counterfeiting concerns – the Industry Committee will review its recommendations on the counterfeiting issue today, while tomorrow the National Security and Public Safety Committee will review its draft report on counterfeiting.  While I am sure that all the witness comments and submissions will be considered, the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network's Roadmap for Change [pdf] will unquestionably play a key role.  During its appearances before the committees, the CACN representatives touted the document as the prescription to address the counterfeiting issue. 

The Roadmap for Change was not translated at the time of the committee appearance, however, that has presumably now happened and the document has been posted online.  It is generally consistent with the committee appearances – many of the anecdotes and recommendations that were raised before the committees are mentioned here too.  The CACN is seeking a far larger IP enforcement framework with more resources, an IP crime task force, and an IP Coordination Council.  It is also seeking stronger border measures, changes to the proceeds of crime legislation, and the creation of a criminal provisions for trademark counterfeiting as well as for camcording in a movie theatre.

While there is much to take issue with (just about every media release from the past couple of years is crammed into the report), it is the recommendations and omissions that really matter.  I am skeptical about the likely effectiveness of some recommendations (for example, the reliance on stronger border measures is undermined by the GAO study on U.S. border effectiveness), yet several have little downside and will likely make their way into the Committees' reports. There are, however, several recommendations that should be rejected. 

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May 16, 2007 1 comment News

GAO Study Contradicts Counterfeit Claims: My Appearance before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology

I appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on Wednesday to discuss counterfeiting (following on my appearance last week before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security).  My opening remarks are posted below – they focused primarily on the need to obtain more accurate data (I cited the inconsistent data associated with camcording) and to separate the counterfeiting issue from copyright reform (I argued that the inclusion of issues such as ratification of the WIPO Internet treaties is hampering progress on the serious counterfeiting problems).

Interestingly, just after the hearing I was alerted to a new U.S. study [PDF] from the Government Accountability Office on U.S. border enforcement activities against counterfeiting.  The report is a must-read for people focused on this issue as it highlights two very important things.  First, notwithstanding the claims that Canada must dramatically reform the powers afforded to our border services to address counterfeiting, the GAO study demonstrates that even countries like the U.S. are struggling with this issue as it points to a lack of data and coordination within the U.S.

Second, the data contained in the GAO report suggests that the claims associated with counterfeiting are massively overstated.  The Industry Committee previously heard from witnesses who noted that there have claims that 5 to 7 percent of world trade involves counterfeit products (some even argue that is growing).  The GAO study points to the U.S. Compliance Measure Program, a statistical sampling program, that randomly selects shipments to check for their compliance with the law, including IP laws.  Of 287,000 inspected shipments from 2000 – 2005, IP violations were only found in 0.06 percent of shipments – less than one tenth of one percent.  This large random sample suggests that counterfeit products are actually only found in a tiny percentage of shipments.  Moreover, the GAO notes that despite increases in IP seizures, the value of those seizures in 2005 represented only 0.02 percent of the total value of imports of goods in product categories that are likely to involve IP protection.  In other words, the evidence from an independent, U.S. government sponsored agency points to a far different reality from that presented to the two parliamentary committees investigating counterfeiting.

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May 3, 2007 3 comments Committees, News

Industry Committee Recommends Withdrawal of Telecom Reform Plan

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology today tabled its report on telecom deregulation.  The report is very short (one paragraph) and to the point.  The Committee: recommends that the Minister of Industry withdraw the order varying Telecom Decision CRTC 2006-15 and table in Parliament a comprehensive package of […]

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March 30, 2007 2 comments News

Net Neutrality at the Industry Committee

Yesterday I appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology as part of their examination of telecom deregulation.  I was pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation, which I took to be an opportunity to discuss net neutrality.  I hope I didn't disappoint – I've posted my opening remarks below.  I focused on three issues in my opening: net neutrality, broadband strategies, and anti-spam legislation.   I tried to emphasize the need for action now, particularly with Canada developing an international position on net neutrality at the OECD (which behind the scenes is developing a paper on Internet traffic prioritization). The remarks attracted some interest from the committee, particularly Bloc MP Paul Crête, who asked many questions on each issue.  It will be interesting to see whether these issues make into the committee's final report.  My prepared remarks were as follows:

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February 27, 2007 5 comments Committees, News

Bernier Before the Industry Committee

Industry Minister Maxime Bernier spent two hours before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology yesterday afternoon to talk telecom deregulation.  I attended the hearing and came away with several impressions.  First, much of the discussion fails to distinguish between communications services as the discussion frequently veers between local […]

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February 20, 2007 Comments are Disabled News