Sign up to receive SPP updates:
RSS feed.  |
ABOUT THE SPP | BACKGROUNDERS | MEDIA | VIDEO/AUDIO |
SPP resources SPP Summit - New Orleans SPP Summit - Montebello Teach-in |
May 8, 2008 Industry Minister Jim Prentice will table a new copyright law at the end of the month that is expected to ape what critics call overly restrictive U.S. intellectual property policy. While the rule changes have been in the pipes since the Paul Martin Liberal days, the industry push to have them enacted has only strengthened with the Security and Prosperity Partnership. According to an article in the Vancouver Sun today: “Representatives of the U.S. government and the entertainment industry met on Wednesday night with a group of MPs studying intellectual property to talk about cracking down on copyright infringements. Caucus members are also planning a trip to Washington before the new law is introduced to meet with the congressional leaders and other groups working on copyright and piracy issues. With all this U.S. and corporate lobbying on copyright law, it’s hardly surprising that “concerns are growing whether it will be good for consumers,” as the Sun reports. This appears to be a clear case of industry writing its own laws despite public concerns or any real evidence that copyright infringement is the problem they say it is. The U.S. Digital Millenium Copyright Act criminalizes the circumvention of digital protection techniques on DVDs, CDs, software and other media that consumer expect to be able to make copies of for personal use (i.e. not for resale). If Canada adopts the U.S. policy, which people following the process claim Canada is about to do, Canadians will be fined for such everyday practices. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, has been at the front of a popular resistance to adopting the U.S. copyright law in Canada. He credits this resistance for why Prentice decided not to table the legislation in December as planned. But he told the Sun he doesn’t think the Industry Minister actually made any significant changes to the law since then. "The pressure has only continued," Geist said in the article today, referring to the Security and Prosperity Partnership as one source of intense U.S. lobbying. In Monbebello, Quebec, during the third SPP summit last August, North American leaders unveiled an Intellectual Property Action Plan with three main priority areas:
“All of these measures were entirely predictable, given that they are precisely what the North American Competitiveness Council recommended earlier this year,” wrote Geist in a blog entry – The SPP on IP – from August 21, 2007, as the Montebello summit was wrapping up. “With that in mind, it bears noting what else the NACC recommended for completion by 2008, since it telegraphs what is on the horizon.” The NACC again emphasized a new intellectual property regime in its 2008 Report to Leaders: “Rigorous protection of intellectual property rights is fundamental to an innovative and globally competitive economy. At the Montebello Summit, Leaders endorsed the NACC’s recommendation for a trilateral Intellectual Property Action Strategy. The private sector has presented specific recommendations for implementation of the Strategy, which the NACC fully endorses. “We urge rapid progress in implementing these recommendations, especially IP leadership within governments at the Executive/Ministerial level, expanded and dedicated enforcement authority and resources, national IP laws that meet global standards for effective IP protection, collaboration on third-country issues, and a digital enforcement pilot project.” Digital Copyright Canada has more information on the looming new Canadian legislation. They are encouraging people to use a form letter on their website to let their MPs know how they feel about this issue. “While copyright is most often described as a balance between the interests of creators and the interests of the general public, the debate has been dominated by special interest industry lobby groups representing intermediaries (people who are neither creators nor the general public),” claims the letter. “Thousands of Canadians, including hundreds of people who are in creative or innovation industries, have signed the ‘Petition for Users’ Rights’ which articulates a more balanced vision. Creators support this balance as they realize that creativity builds on the past, and that the protection of Creators' Rights includes the protection of Users' Rights. In order for there to be a future generation of creators we must limit the control of past creator or non-creator copyright holders.” To see what the Creators’ Copyright Coalition says about Canada’s proposed copyright changes, click here.
.
|
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
 |
Workers
Water
Energy
Security & civil liberties
Military
Safety & regulations
