Post Tagged with: "sookman"

Eviscerated or Not: Katz on Access Copyright

Ariel Katz has a must-read post on the implications of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decisions for Access Copyright. The post notes that though Barry Sookman and Access Copyright have tried to minimize the importance of the decisions and suggested that it only applies to a small amount of copying, […]

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September 20, 2012 3 comments News

“Bill C-11 Is No SOPA”: My Response

Barry Sookman, lawyer and registered lobbyist for the Canadian Recording Industry Association (now Music Canada), the Motion Pictures Association – Canada, and Canadian Publishers Council, has an op-ed in the National Post claiming that concerns that proposed amendments to Bill C-11 could result in SOPA-style rules in Canada are the stuff of wild claims and hysteria.

The short response is that Sookman’s column – along with his clients – downplay the dramatic impact of their proposed amendments. Their proposed amendments to C-11 would radically alter the bill by constraining consumer provisions, heaping greater liability risk on Internet companies, and introducing website blocking and Internet termination to Canada. Several of these provisions are very similar in approach to SOPA in the U.S. and the comparison is both apt and accurate. Moreover, the column leaves the false impression that Bill C-11’s digital lock rules are standard when they are widely opposed by numerous stakeholders that Sookman would not dare to call anti-copyright.

There is much more to take issue with in the column and I’ve done so in paragraph-by-paragraph format below. Sookman’s column is posted in italics and my response immediately follows:

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February 8, 2012 63 comments News, News Interviews, Tv / Radio

The Mad Hatter Calls Out Sookman

The Mad Hatter has a detailed post identifying a series of inaccuracies and misleading statements in a new post by CRIA lobbyist Barry Sookman on Canada and P2P.  Sookman has now heavily edited the post, though many of the same claims can be found in other documents.

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December 29, 2009 7 comments News

The Blame Canada Road Show

Rebecca Tushnet liveblogs a "debate" on Canadian IP policy in Washington, DC between recording industry lawyers on both sides of the border. Canada is described as facing a "very dark situation."

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October 14, 2009 6 comments News

Debating The ECPA

IT World Canada covers the growing debate over the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, with a mini-debate between Barry Sookman and me over the implications of the bill.  Sookman expresses concern that an attempt to buy additional software licences might render the purchaser a spammer (as if the vendor is going […]

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May 29, 2009 1 comment News