Archive for the ‘WIPO Treaties’ category

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Geist: “STFU until you see the bill”

May 10th, 2010

On Friday Prof. Geist again proclaimed that he is receiving private information about what the new copyright bill is going to look like. Moore’s Response: Stop Talking and Wait For My DMCA. From what he has been writing the bill will contain WIPO compliant provisions related to the protection of technological measures. It will also contain new exceptions for users that will permit time shifting, format shifting, and distance learning.

His private sources appear to be telling him not just what is in the bill, but also the government’s confidential strategy as to how it intends to present the bill to the public. Prof. Geist wrote:

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Posted in Copyright, WIPO Treaties, copyright reform

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Canada again named to USTR’s Priority Watch List for weak IP laws

April 30th, 2010

The USTR just released its 2010 Special 301 Report. Canada has again been placed on the Priority Watch List along with Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, and Venezuela.

In placing Canada on this list, the USTR stated the following: 

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Posted in Copyright, Counterfeiting, Piracy, WIPO Treaties, copyright reform, intellectual property

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Canada called out for weak copyright laws by IFPI and at the Heritage Committee

April 30th, 2010

Digital piracy remains one of the biggest obstacles for the recording industry. It is an especially significant problem here in Canada. A major contributor is weak copyright protection which limits the development of new business models for music in Canada. These are the conclusions of the IFPI which just published a report setting out a comprehensive picture of the key trends in today’s music business including key trends in Canada. It is also the opinion of representatives of the recording industry who appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last week.

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Posted in Copyright, Graduated Response, Piracy, Three Strikes, WIPO Treaties, copyright reform

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The Owens analysis of the Canadian copyright consultations: what are the implications?

April 21st, 2010

Earlier this week, Richard Owens, the past chair of the board of directors of the University of Toronto Innovations Foundation, a member of the board and former Executive Director of the Centre for Innovation and Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and an adjunct professor of copyright and technology law at the University of Toronto, published a critical analysis of last summer’s copyright consultation. In his paper, Noises Heard: Canada’s Recent Online Copyright Consultation Process: Teachings and Cautions, he concluded that the consultation “was systematically abused by a clandestine group of mod-chip distributors, foreign websites administrators and international BitTorrent users”.  His focus was on the form letter wizard made available by the Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights (CCER), a group whose very businesses depends on the ability to make illegal copies of software and to circumvent technological measures.

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Posted in Copyright, Fair Dealing, Piracy, TPMs, Three Strikes, WIPO Treaties, copyright reform

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Calling out misreporting about ACTA

April 14th, 2010

As I have pointed out before on several occasions, there is a lot of inaccurate reporting about ACTA. In some cases, the misreporting is done by people who are intimately familiar with the actual text of the publically available draft treaty documents. In other cases, the misreporting results from relying on those widely disseminated inaccurate secondary sources. 

A case in point is recent article published by the Ottawa Citizen  and other Canwest newspapers such as the Montreal Gazette , Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Windsor Star, and the Vancouver Sun dealing with ACTA. The article written by Vito Pilieci made a number of inaccurate statements about ACTA including the following statements: 

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Posted in ACTA, Counterfeiting, Piracy, WIPO Treaties

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More hype than facts about ACTA from its critics

April 13th, 2010

The internet is lighting up again with opposition to the ACTA as negotiations on the trade agreement resume in New Zealand. Notwithstanding that much about the treaty is now known from well publicized leaks, its critics continue to try and slag it with misinformation and biased criticism.

Consider the following summary by Prof. Geist in yesterday’s Toronto Star article which was re-published in his blog this morning. Prof. Geist says:

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Posted in ACTA, Counterfeiting, Graduated Response, Piracy, TPMs, Three Strikes, WIPO Treaties

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Misinterpreting the IPR 2010 Report

February 25th, 2010

The Intellectual Property Rights Alliance just published its 2010 report reviewing countries’ rankings on various indexes measuring their respect for property rights. The aim of the report was to show the clear link between a country’s respect for property rights and economic prosperity.

According to the report, the link can be seen in all forms of property including intellectual property. Dealing with the latter, the report states:

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Posted in Copyright, Counterfeiting, IIPA, Piracy, WIPO Treaties

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Reflections on the liberal roundtable on the digital economy

February 17th, 2010

Last week, Liberal Industry critic Marc Garneau and Heritage critic Pablo Rodriguez hosted a roundtable on the digital economy in Ottawa. There were two panels. One was on our modern digital infrastructure. The other one was on copyright, broadcasting and the Internet. I participated in the copyright roundtable along with representatives from the ESAC, ACTRA, Rogers and Prof. Geist.

I commend Messrs. Garneau and Rodriguez for organizing this event. Developing a strategy for Canada’s digital future is a critical component of ensuring prosperity and opportunities for all Canadians.

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Posted in Copyright, Digital Britain, Fair Dealing, Fair Use, Graduated Response, ISP Liability, Piracy, Presentations, TPMs, Three Strikes, WIPO Treaties

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Fung and Isohunt found liable for inducing worldwide copyright infringement

December 25th, 2009

Earlier this week, a US district court granted summary judgement to MPAA members holding that Gary Fung and four websites operated by him, including Isohunt one of Canada’s largest bittorrent sites, contribute to massive worldwide copyright infringement.

Operators of bittorrent sites like isoHunt often claim they are nothing but content neutral search engines like Google. The Isohunt court disagreed holding, based on uncontested expert evidence, that approximately 95 percent of all files made accessible through Isohunt were infringing or highly likely to be infringing.

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Posted in Copyright, ISP Liability, Piracy, WIPO Treaties

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Only once more – and then Marry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody, including Professor Geist and his devoted followers: the 1996 WIPO Diplomatic Conference, the WIPO Treaties and the balance of interests

December 23rd, 2009

Christmas is two days away; I have to concentrate on my eight grandchildren. I am really not in the mood to deal with copyright, and I do not want to read books, articles and blogs about it this year anymore. However, a colleague of mine in Germany (he may not have been in full Christmas mood yet like me) sent me an e-mail asking me to correct somebody’s allegations which he has found obviously untrue (in fact he has used certain adjectives to describe his opinion about those allegations, which, however, I – sticking on the spirit of what is called, at least in my country, the holiday of love – definitely do not want to quote). So, I have visited the source indicated by him, and yes, I have found Professor Geist’s friendly comments about my post politely remarking that I might be wrong about the interpretation of the 1996 WIPO Treaties concerning the coverage of the anti-circumvention provisions. To prove this, he quotes Professor Pamela Samuelson who, on the basis of what happened – at least according to her – at the Diplomatic Conference, states that the Treaties do not obligate Contracting Parties to extend protection against circumvention devices.

This is a preview of Only once more – and then Marry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody, including Professor Geist and his devoted followers: the 1996 WIPO Diplomatic Conference, the WIPO Treaties and the balance of interests. Read full post.

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Posted in Copyright, TPMs, WIPO Treaties

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