February 8th, 2010 by Barry Sookman
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For those of you wanting a primer in intellectual property law, you may be interested in the new casebook, Intellectual Property Law in Canada: Cases and Commentary. This is a book written by my IP litigation partner Steven Mason and I. We are using it in the IP law course we teach at Osgoode. It is a sequel to our casebook published last year on copyright, Copyright: Cases and Commentary on the Canadian and International Law, which we used to teach copyright law at Osgoode.
Both books are published by Carswell. For more information see, http://www.carswell.com/description.asp?docid=6568
February 8th, 2010 by Barry Sookman
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Last week the Federal Court of Australia released its important decision in the iiNet case. As many commentators have pointed out, the court declined to require Australia’s ISPs to disconnect those of its subscribers who are repeat copyright infringers.
In the course of reaching this decision, the court made a number of important rulings about the liability arising from the use of BitTorrent networks including the following:
- Seeders and peers that make music available for sharing are infringers under Australia’s making available right.
- The transmission of copyright files as part of a BitTorrent swarm constitutes a transmission (communication) to the public by participants in the stream and is infringing.
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The fallout from iiNet: markets and laws failing in face of net piracy
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February 5th, 2010 by Barry Sookman
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The US Center for Democracy and Technology recently hosted a debate about the pros and cons of graduated responses systems. The debate can be seen below.
As Canada considers its options for copyright reform, we should be focusing not on whether we should implement graduated response, but on how we ought to do it.
France, the UK, and New Zealand have shown the way. Representatives from Belgium and now Turkey have also expressed support for implementing such a regime. Yesterday’s iiNet decision in Australia shows that self-regulatory approaches may not work out as expected. And, economists like Professor Bomsel tell us that graduated response is the best way to internalize the externalities associated with copyright infringement to address online file sharing that is hurting creators and the creative industries.
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Debating graduated response at the Center for Democracy and Technology
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February 5th, 2010 by Barry Sookman
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Earlier this week, MP Marc Garneau published an op-ed in the National Post asking “Where is Canada’s plan for the digital age?” A good question.
He pointed out that “a renewed vision is required for a digital economy”, that the “digital economy will be a defining part of our economy”, that technology “is changing our world” and that we must “evolve if we hope to prosper”.
Mr. Garneau is clearly right. Technology is changing our world and we either have to adapt or suffer the consequences. Just look at the changes the Internet, search engines, smart phones, iPods, and the myriad other innovative technologies have brought to every segment of our lives.
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Where is Canada’s plan for the digital age?
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February 2nd, 2010 by Barry Sookman
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Last week was another busy week for developments in ACTA. There were meetings in Mexico by representatives from Canada and its key trading partners to further flesh out how to address the worldwide problems with counterfeiting and piracy. Meanwhile, anti-copyright critics were busy filling the blogosphere and press attacking the proposed treaty.
Of course, the actual text of the treaty is not know by the public. So commentators have relied on their interpretations of leaked documents to try and derail it.
When the criticisms are examined, it will be readily apparent that certain ACTA critics misapprehend what has been disclosed and make assertions or reach conclusions that cannot be justified based on the leaked documents.
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A reply to ACTA critics
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February 1st, 2010 by Professor Olivier Bomsel
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There recently has been a debate over the economic costs and benefits behind graduated response systems aimed at reducing online file sharing. Professor Geist, for example, recently posted a blog estimating the costs of a graduated response system. I believe the topic of the costs and benefits of graduated response mechanisms is an important one. Let us take a closer look at this topic and the assertion that graduated response cannot be justified because of its costs.
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The costs and benefits of graduated response in copyright enforcement
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January 26th, 2010 by Barry Sookman
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Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave an important speech on the importance of freedom of speech on the Internet. Her speech touched upon the remarkable potential of the Internet as a communications medium as well as the difficult policy issues associated with protecting it.
A key message was the importance of keeping the internet open to permit a free exchange of ideas and knowledge:
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Clinton’s Remarks on Internet Freedom
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January 25th, 2010 by Barry Sookman
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Last week, the UK Minister for Digital Britain, Stephen Timms, gave a speech outlining the main challenges ahead for the government in moving forward with its Digital Britain initiative. He focused on three challenges, broadband; copyright; and new business models.
With respect to broadband, he outlined that the government had two major broadband projects: a commitment that every home in the country should be able to obtain a 2 Mbit/s broadband service – and so be able to use the applications which most people are using broadband for today; and a next-generation fund to support national scale investment in much higher speed services.
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Challenges for Digital Britain: broadband access, copyright and business models
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January 20th, 2010 by Barry Sookman and Dan Glover
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This is a copy of an article published in The Lawyers Weekly (January 2010) by Barry Sookman and Dan Glover.
In mid-2009, the Canadian government launched a nationwide consultation meant to canvass what amendments to the Copyright Act are necessary to support Canada’s participation in the global, digital economy, and to foster innovation, creativity, competition and investment.
There is no doubt that our copyright laws need amending. Amendments are required on a number of fronts. New exceptions are required to meet legitimate user expectations to access and use copyright content without infringement. Amendments are also needed to reduce online piracy and to support making licensed services available to the public.
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Graduated response and copyright: an idea that is right for the times
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January 19th, 2010 by Barry Sookman
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On December 23, 2009, the Italian Supreme Court released its ruling in a case involving criminal charges against the operators of the Swedish website, Pirate Bay. The case raised a number of interesting issues including whether, under Italian criminal law, the operation of a BiTtorrent site is illegal when the operators get a financial return such as by showing advertising on the site; the seizure of a p2p file sharing website is possible; a court can grant injunctive relief requiring ISPs to block access to a site that facilitates infringement; and the criminal law extends to online digital piracy that in part takes place abroad. In line with evolving precedents, the Italian Supreme court answered all of these questions in the affirmative.
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The Italian Pirate Bay Case: What did the court order and why?
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