Fair Dealing by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dRkXwP

Fair Dealing by Giulia Forsythe (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dRkXwP

Copyright

G20 To Agree on World IP Litigation Court

Reports this evening indicate that the G20 has reached an agreement to establish a World Intellectual Property Litigation Court.  The idea behind the court originated at WIPO.  The G20 apparently hopes to launch the court by 2012, with Geneva pegged as the likely home. Update: Got me – this must […]

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March 31, 2009 2 comments News

ACTA Timeline in Spanish

A Columbian blogger has translated my recent posting on ACTA into Spanish.

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March 31, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

EA ‘Dumps DRM’ for Next Sims Game

The BBC reports that Electronic Arts has confirmed that its next version of The Sims will be DRM-free.

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March 31, 2009 1 comment News

Battle over ACTA Heats Up As DFAIT Consults, U.S. Promotes Global DMCA

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) begins by noting that next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs will conduct one of the stranger consultations in recent memory.  Officials have invited roughly 70 stakeholder groups to discuss an international intellectual property treaty that the U.S. regards as a national security secret and about which the only public substantive information has come from a series of unofficial leaks.

Since then-Minister David Emerson announced Canada’s participation in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations in October 2007, the ACTA has been dogged by controversy over the near-total lack of transparency.  Early negotiations were held in secret locations with each participating country (Canada, the U.S., the European Union, Japan, and Australia among them) offering nearly-identical cryptic press releases that did little more than fuel public concern.

The participating countries conducted four major negotiation sessions in 2008 and though the first session of 2009 was postponed at the request of the U.S. (which was busy transitioning to a new president), the negotiations are set to resume later this spring. When they do, negotiators will face two key challenges. 

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March 30, 2009 5 comments Columns

Battle Over Anti-Counterfeiting Treaty Heats Up

Appeared in the Toronto Star on March 30, 2009 as Anti-counterfeiting Treaty Talks Heat Up Next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs will conduct one of the stranger consultations in recent memory.  Officials have invited roughly 70 stakeholder groups to discuss an international intellectual property treaty that the U.S. regards […]

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March 30, 2009 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive