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

Making It Work Copyright Forum

Later today I'll be participating in a copyright forum in Toronto together with MPs Olivia Chow and Charlie Angus, as well as representatives from ACTRA, the Songwriters Association of Canada, and the Canadian Library Association.  Details at the Facebook event page or catch the event streamed on UStream.

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March 18, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

Counting Crows Go Label Free

TechCrunch reports that the Counting Crows had ended their relationship with their music label, following frustration over the inability to aggressively use the Internet.

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March 18, 2009 2 comments News

WIPO’s Misleading Release

The World Intellectual Property Organization put out a release yesterday trumpeting an eight percent increase in domain name disputes handled by WIPO.  In 2008 there were 2329 complaints filed with WIPO, the most ever.  WIPO uses the increase to raise questions about the possible increase in the number of available […]

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March 17, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

Criticism of NZ Copyright Reforms Continues

Following TelstraClear's criticisms of New Zealand's Section 92a copyright reform, the Auckland District Law Society, Google, and ACT Leader Rodney Hide have chimed in with criticisms of their own.

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March 16, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

Canada Favours Early Release of ACTA Text

While the U.S. claims that ACTA documents are a matter of national security and the European Parliament demands greater transparency, it would appear that the Canadian delegation would favour an early release of the draft treaty.  According to a confidential November 2008 memorandum that was prepared for Stockwell Day, the Minister of International Trade obtained under the Access to Information Act:

At the upcoming meeting in December 2008, given its commitment to transparency in international trade negotiations, the Canadian delegation plans to argue for a transparent approach. . . This approach would result in an earlier release of the text, which would serve to alleviate domestic concerns about the scope of the agreement and the perceived secrecy surrounding the process.  The draft text could then serve as the basis for broad-based public consultations.

Should there be no consensus among the ACTA partners to make the ACTA text public, the Department will need to develop options to address Canadian stakeholders concerns about the lack of transparency in the ACTA process. Department officials will be working with other government departments as well as departmental experts on consultations and communications to develop options for public consultations that would address the issues raised by civil society groups and industry associations. These options would be submitted for your approval.

Notwithstanding the professed interest in transparency, Canada has secretly been a major contributor to the draft text. 

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March 14, 2009 4 comments News