Tag: Geist

The Unintended Equustek Effect: a reply to Michael GeistThe Unintended Equustek Effect: a reply to Michael Geist

April 2, 2019 Barry Sookman 0 Comments

Cyberspace is not a “No Law Land”. That was the title to a study conduced for Industry Canada in 1997. It started with this quote from Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder:

It’s always surprising how old concepts carry into the new medium. It’s overly idealistic to act like, Oh, the Internet is the one place where people should be able to do whatever they wish: present child pornography, do scams, libel people, steal copyrighted material. Society’s values have not changed fundamentally just because it’s an Internet page.

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Change and the Copyright Modernization ActChange and the Copyright Modernization Act

November 7, 2012 Barry Sookman 2 Comments

Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, with a few exceptions, is now law with the publication of the Governor General Order in Council. The fourth attempt to amend the Copyright Act since 2005 succeeded where Bills C-60 (2005), C-61 (2008), and C-32 (2010) did not.

A lot has changed since 2005 when Bill C-60 was first introduced. That Bill would have made a limited, but important, set of amendments. Its summary reminds us that it would have amended the “Copyright Act to implement the provisions of the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, to clarify the liability of network service providers, to facilitate technology-enhanced learning and interlibrary loans, and to update certain other provisions of the Act.” …

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Why is the EU asking the ECJ to review ACTA and does it matter?Why is the EU asking the ECJ to review ACTA and does it matter?

February 27, 2012 Barry Sookman 0 Comments

Last week the European Commissioner for Trade, Karel De Gucht, released a statement announcing that the EU will refer the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ will be asked to assess whether ACTA is incompatible – in any way – with the EU’s fundamental rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression and information or data protection and the right to property in case of intellectual property.

What reason did the Commissioner give to explain the referral to the ECJ?…

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Chief Justice asks: will accuracy and fairness be casualties of the social media era?Chief Justice asks: will accuracy and fairness be casualties of the social media era?

February 1, 2012 Barry Sookman 0 Comments

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada gave a speech yesterday at Carleton University. In it she questioned whether fairness and accuracy might be lost in the world of blogging, tweeting and the use of social networks. She said the media is essential to building public trust in the administration of justice.

For those of you who follow copyright law reform developments on certain blogs and social media sources you might find her speech will resonate with you.

For fun, I have taken extracts of her speech reported in the Toronto Star and have substituted the words “administration of justice” with the words “copyright law”; “the judiciary” with “legislative process”; and “constitutional decision” with “copyright reform process”.…

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C-32 and the BlackBerry PlayBook: A reply to Michael GeistC-32 and the BlackBerry PlayBook: A reply to Michael Geist

April 25, 2011 Barry Sookman 2 Comments

Michael Geist’s recent blog post “The PlayBook Tax: Why the Conservative’s Copyright Plans Create a Hidden Cost for RIM’s PlayBook” makes the claim that “the Conservative plan for copyright reform (as found in Bill C-32) establishes a significant barrier that could force many consumers to pay hundreds in additional costs in order to switch their content from existing devices” to RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook. He calls this a “PlayBook tax” and claims switching costs apply to “any digital content with a digital lock”.…

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Are Canada’s copyright laws friendly or unfriendly towards wealth destroyers according to Prof. Geist?Are Canada’s copyright laws friendly or unfriendly towards wealth destroyers according to Prof. Geist?

March 9, 2011 Barry Sookman 5 Comments

In the last few weeks Prof. Geist has been writing, blogging, tweeting, speaking and even testifying to a Parliamentary Committee about the IsoHunt case and whether there is a need for an amendment to the Copyright Act to create a new cause of action to make online pirate sites and services liable for enabling copyright infringement. His ostensible claim is that representatives of the recording industry secretly filed a copyright infringement claim against IsoHunt three weeks before Bill C-32 was tabled in the House of Commons; kept the suit secret to improve their chances of getting copyright reforms needed to shut the site down – all the while not needing the amendments because they already have the legal tools necessary to put IsoHunt out of business.…

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Is copyright part of the FTA or NAFTA?Is copyright part of the FTA or NAFTA?

February 19, 2011 Barry Sookman 0 Comments

Does the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) contain provisions dealing with copyright? According to Prof. Geist it does not. Does the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) require Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to protect copyright? According to Prof. Geist it does not. NAFTA doesn’t deal with copyright.

These revelations about the FTA and NAFTA were part of Prof. Geist’s prepared opening remarks to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on International Trade on the subject of CETA, the Canada EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.…

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C-32 enablement remedy targets secondary copyright infringementC-32 enablement remedy targets secondary copyright infringement

February 18, 2011 Barry Sookman, Dan Glover, Connor Bildfell 0 Comments

Mark Twain once famously commented, “Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.” Canadian copyright law bears the burden of his axiom more than most. The pith of our copyright law dates from a 1911 bill passed in the United Kingdom, which we adopted wholesale in the early 1920s, and have not kept current with the changes in time.

Our law, which was designed to deal with player pianos and renegade printing presses, and later traditional broadcast techologies like radio and TV, is occasionally called upon to deal with illegal filesharing on the Internet.…

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En réponse à «Pour démêler la confusion à l’égard du droit d’auteur» (Clearing Up the Copyright Confusion), du Professeur Michael GeistEn réponse à «Pour démêler la confusion à l’égard du droit d’auteur» (Clearing Up the Copyright Confusion), du Professeur Michael Geist

January 26, 2011 Dan Glover 0 Comments

Par Dan Glover,* 9 janvier 2011 (version originale en Anglais)

Résumé

La création d’œuvres protégées par le droit d’auteur pour fins pédagogiques est une entreprise importante et complexe, particulièrement dans un pays aussi vaste, diversifié et peu peuplé comme l’est le Canada. Il faudrait mener une réflexion approfondie avant d’instituer des règles d’utilisation équitable qui menaceraient l’édition pédagogique.
L’équité est un concept subjectif qui doit être examiné au cas par cas. Six ans seulement après la décision historique de la Cour suprême dans la cause CCH concernant l’utilisation équitable, la voici saisie à nouveau !

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A Response to Professor Michael Geist’s Clearing Up the Copyright ConfusionA Response to Professor Michael Geist’s Clearing Up the Copyright Confusion

January 9, 2011 Dan Glover 3 Comments

Abstract*

· The creation of copyright works for educational uses is a complex and substantial endeavour, particular in a country as large, diverse and sparsely populated as Canada. Careful thought should be given before adopting fair dealing rules that threaten the health of educational publishing.

· “Fairness” is an eye-of-the-beholder concept that must be revisited on the facts of every new case. Only six years after the landmark CCH case on “fair dealing”, this issue is returning to the Supreme Court for a second review!…

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