Barry Sookman reports
that the Copyright Board of Canada has issued an order to parties in
the satellite radio services case to address the implications of the
recent Supreme Court of Canada copyright decisions. It notes that
"given the reasons of the majority in Alberta (Education) v.
Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), 2012 SCC 37,
the Board's analysis of fair dealing in the satellite radio services
market may need to be reviewed."
Jul.23/12Comments (2)
The USTR has launched a public consultation
on Canada's proposed entry to the Trans Pacific Partnership
talks.The deadline for comments is September 4, 2012. A
hearing is scheduled for September 24, 2012.
Jul.23/12Comments (0)
When the U.S. invited Canada to join the Trans Pacific Partnership
negotiations last month, there was an agreed
upon delay to allow it to complete a domestic approval
process. As part of that delay, Canada was to be excluded from the
negotiations during the approval period and bound by any substantive
agreements reached during those talks. While most assumed that would
only cover the just-completed San Diego round of discussions, it
turns out that Canada will be excluded from the next round of
negotiations as well. The USTR sent the formal letter to
include Canada in the TPP to Congress on July 10, 2012. Last week,
it also announced that
the next round of negotiations will take place in early September in
Virginia. Given the 90-day waiting period from the date of the USTR
letter, Canada will also be excluded from this round of negotiations
and will have to wait until December to formally participate in the
talks.
Jul.16/12Comments (18)
The UK government is set to announce
that all research funded by the government will be mandated as open
access by 2014, ensuring that all taxpayer funded research will be
freely available to anyone anywhere in the world.
Jul.16/12Comments (1)
Nigel Farage, a UK Member of the European Parliament, has tabled
a question to the European Commission that asks if it "will
undertake a revision of the EU-Canada deal to remove all proposals
similar to ACTA." Farage says that CETA should be thoroughly
revised to remove anything that would implement ACTA through the
back door.
Jul.12/12Comments (0)
Despite a Mexican
Senate recommendation not to do so, Mexico unexpectedly signed
the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement yesterday. There is some
speculation that signing the agreement was a U.S. condition for
joining the Trans Pacific Partnership talks. The Mexican Senate must
still ratify the agreement for it to take effect.
Jul.12/12Comments (2)
The CBC reports
that it obtained documents under the Access to Information Act in
which the government tries to justify statements from Public Safety
Minister Vic Toews that Bill C-30, the online surveillance bill,
would have assisted with the Luka Magnotta investigation. I appeared
on CBC's Power and Politics to challenge the claims.
Jul.12/12Comments (2)
Access Copyright's Executive Director Maureen Cavan tells University
Affairs magazine that 40 percent of university students
outside of Quebec are currently at institutions that have not signed
the Access Copyright model licence. Carleton University, which
opted-out of the licence last year, reports that "roughly 80 percent
of requests to use copyrighted material were already covered under
licences that Carleton held. For the remainder, Carleton either got
a digital copy under licence or dealt directly with the publisher or
a U.S. copyright clearance agency."
Jul.10/12Comments (1)
Professor Michael Carrier has published
the results of a remarkable initiative on copyright and
innovation that uses the music industry and Napster as the case
study. Carrier interviewed leading executives at major record labels
and technology companies in an effort to better understand the
implications of the litigation strategy against Napster. The article
concludes that there were five losses from the Napster decision and
related litigation: lost innovation, lost venture capital, lost
markets, lost licensing, and lost magic.
Jul.10/12Comments (0)
The Canadian government announced
yesterday that it will use its regulation-making power to block the
attempt to apply the private copying levy to MicroSD cards. I noted
last November that it had this power to stop a Copyright Board
hearing into the matter and that the Canadian Private Copying
Collective (the group that manages the private copying levy) had
explicitly argued that it could use it to stop the imposition of the
levy on media deemed "inappropriate."
Jul.04/12Comments (6)
