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Copyright

Legislators Worldwide Asking Questions About ACTA

Legislators around the world are demanding more information on the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. French Deputy Nicolas Dupont-Aignan raised ACTA questions in the National Assembly late last year, expressing concerns about a global three-strikes and you're out approach, increased costs for medicines, and the lack of transparency associated with the process.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden goes even further in a letter to the USTR this week that seeks answers to nearly a dozen questions about ACTA. Wyden asks about:

possible constraints on domestic U.S. law reforms
ensuring ACTA does not interfere with public health flexibilities in TRIPs
the definition of counterfeit
concerns about the inclusion of patents within ACTA
the role of ISPs in ACTA
whether increased monitoring of subscriber usage is envisioned by ACTA
the privacy impact of ACTA
details on border measures provisions
third party liability for IP infringement
possible commitments worldwide to comply with the DMCA

Wyden is not the first U.S. senator to raise questions about ACTA. Last year, Senators Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown also wrote to the USTR as did Senators Pat Leahy and Arlen Specter in 2008.

January 8, 2010 — 13 comments — News

Dozens of Amendments Proposed To UK Digital Economy Bill

PaidContent reports that there have been 74 amendments proposed to the UK Digital Economy bill. These include requiring rights holders to "set out the value of the infringement", “appropriately balances the interest of rights holders and the interests of the public in due process, privacy, freedom of expression and other […]

January 7, 2010 — 1 comment — News

“Slightly Divided We Stand”: The EU Ratification of the WIPO Treaties

The At last … the 1709 Copyright Blog points to the details of the EU ratification of the WIPO Internet treaties and the fact that a number of countries opted out of elements of those treaties by way of declaration.

January 7, 2010 — 1 comment — News

Pollara Changes Its Tune On Music Downloading

Several years ago, Pollara was the lead polling company for CRIA and it regularly produced reports consistent with its client's view of the world. In fact, longtime readers may recall that it in March 2006, I posted on a Pollara study that contradicted CRIA's claims. Then Pollara President Duncan McKie (now President of the Canadian Independent Record Production Association) posted a response calling me impertinent and presumptuous, concluding "all the data that we have collected on this topic over the past 3 years point to a strong negative relationship between downloading and music purchases."

What a difference a few years (and a change in client) makes. CRIA and Pollara parted ways soon afterward and current Pollara Executive Vice-President Robert Hutton offers a decidedly different take on the issue. In this comment on Zeropaid, Hutton notes that relying on 2006 research is "dubious at best." Of course, it is 2006 Pollara data that served as the basis for the Conference Board of Canada's press release on file sharing last year. He then continues:

January 6, 2010 — 85 comments — News