Violators of Copyright Law — Oh (No) Canada! Not You Too!
February 29, 2008
Imagine that. Placid, peaceful Canada, deemed year after year as one of the best countries in the world to live, has been accused along with 10 other countries of being a major violator of U.S. copyright law by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).
The IIPA is a U.S.-based alliance of trade associations that tracks the development and enforcement of copyright laws in other countries. The ultimate aim of this watchdog group is to save the U.S. from the loss of billions of dollars due to piracy of all forms of media — from computer software, to films and records, to electronic and print media — by establishing a legal system that enforces international laws on intellectual property protection.
The coalition filed its report with the United States Trade Representative (USTR) earlier this month, stating that Canada should be placed on the USTR’s Priority Watch List. The crime? Canada has not yet updated its copyright laws to align with the global benchmarks stipulated in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 1996 treaty. Stated in the IIPA’s report:
Canada has taken no meaningful steps toward modernizing its copyright law to meet the minimum global standards of the WIPO internet treaties, which it signed more than a decade ago.
In 2007 … the [Canadian] government … listed copyright reform among its top legislative priorities. But these encouraging statements have not yet evolved into anything more concrete.
According to the IIPA, of the estimated $18 billion the U.S. lost in 2007 through copyright piracy, Canada is responsible for approximately $511 million.
Being placed on the USTR’s Priority Watch List means that Canadian legislation on intellectual property protection would come under close scrutiny, and intense pressure by the U.S. would be placed on Canada to reform its copyright laws.
As a Canadian writer and editor, what I find most disturbing about this is that back in December of 2007, Canada’s minister of industry, Jim Prentice, planned to introduce a bill to reform the country’s laws on copyright infringement and piracy — a bill that would likely have met at least some, if not all, of WIPO’s standards on the protection of intellectual property. But because his proposed changes to the existing laws were expected to echo some of the U.S.’s stricter copyright legislation, opposition to the bill — most loudly heard by Michael Geist and his Facebook posse — caused Prentice to reconsider.
There has been talk that Prentice will move ahead with the bill’s introduction in the next few weeks, but nothing has been confirmed. In the meantime, the IIPA’s recommendation to the USTR leaves Canada’s reputation for respecting intellectual property and the rights of artists everywhere in dubious condition.
The USTR is to release its annual Priority Watch List in April.
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There is no doubt that piracy is the nature of the music business and that it is a global phenomenon. Take a look at this story of 30 years of rip off: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10496926&pnum=0