Post Tagged with: "WIPO"

Federal Court of Appeal Upholds Ringtone Decision

The Federal Court of Canada has issued its decision ~~(not yet online)~~ in the judicial review of the Copyright Board of Canada's ringtone decision. The court upheld the decision, marking a big win for SOCAN and a loss for the wireless providers (CWTA, Bell Mobility, Telus) who challenged the Board's decision. The court addressed two primary issues – first, whether the transmission of a ringtone to a cellphone is a "communication" under the Copyright Act and second, whether it is a "communication to the public." While the wireless carriers argued that a communication must only include a transmission that is intended to be heard simultaneously or immediately upon transmission, the court disagreed, ruling that "the wireless transmission of a musical ringtone to a cellphone is a communication, whether the owner of the cellphone accesses it immediately in order to hear the music, or at some later time."

The potentially more important line of reasoning involves whether the transmission of the ringtone is a "communication to the public."

January 10, 2008 — 1 comment — News

Prentice Calls for “Extensive Copyright Discussions”. . . After the Canadian DMCA Is Introduced

Industry Minister Jim Prentice appeared on CBC's Biznet (RAM file) this morning to talk copyright. As Prentice talked about companies who "intellectualize property" and copyright as "a fascinating issue and a fascinating piece of legislation," he did not reveal much about the forthcoming bill. Instead, he relied on the same […]

January 3, 2008 — 22 comments — News

Prentice Calls for “Extensive Copyright Discussions”. . . After the Canadian DMCA Is Introduced

January 3, 2008 — Comments are Disabled — Stop CDMCA

The Canadian DMCA’s Talking Points

While some attendees were disappointed that Industry Minister Jim Prentice was not more responsive to the copyright questions posed at this weekend's open house, I found the comments very insightful since they provide a roadmap for how Prentice is likely to justify tomorrow's introduction of a Canadian DMCA. I expect that the launch will include some well co-ordinated laudatory comments from groups like CRIA and the CMPDA, yet the Minister is likely to focus on four points to justify his "framework legislation":

1. Canada Needs This Legislation To Meet Its International Treaty Obligations. This is a reference to the World Intellectual Property Organization's Internet Treaties that Canada signed in 1997 but has not yet implemented or ratified. While this is a bit rich coming from a government that has ratified Kyoto but not done much of anything to meet its obligations, there are two points worth making in response. First, signing a treaty is not the same as ratifying (just ask the U.S. which is one of only two countries in the world to have signed the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child but not ratified it) – Canada is not offside on its international obligations on copyright because it has yet to act on the WIPO Treaties. Second, there is great flexibility on how a country chooses to implement those treaties. It is simply not enough to claim that Canada has no choice. We do. We can meet the treaty standards and still protect fair dealing, privacy, consumer, and education interests. It is Prentice's choice not to do so.

December 10, 2007 — 7 comments — 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?

December 4, 2007 — 13 comments — News