Columns

Canadian Copyright Bill A Missed Opportunity

Last week Canada’s long awaited digital copyright reform bill, Bill C-60, was unveiled. The government kept its promises – the recording industry and Canada’s Internet service providers emerged as the big winners with each securing a lengthy list of new rights, power, and protections. 

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June 24, 2005 Comments are Disabled Columns

Reconciling Cancon Requirements in the Age of the Internet

My regular Law Bytes column (homepage version, Toronto Star version) provides some further commentary on last week's CRTC pay radio decision. I argue that the Commission made the best of a bad hand and delivered a policy approach that prioritizes Canadian artists by adapting Canadian content requirements to emerging new technologies.

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June 20, 2005 Comments are Disabled Columns

The Copyright Reform Process

With the Canadian goverment likely to introduce a copyright bill this week, the Hill Times features an op-ed I wrote on the forthcoming process.

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June 14, 2005 Comments are Disabled Columns

Domain Name Dispute Puts Dot-Ca in the Spotlight

My weekly Law Bytes column (freely available hyperlinked version, Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on the recent Canadian parliamentary discussion on domain name disputes. As discussed about ten days ago, the impetus for governmental interest in domain name disputes and Internet governance is the registration of several domain names bearing the names of sitting Members of Parliament by the Defend Marriage Coalition, an opponent of same-sex marriage legislation.

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June 13, 2005 Comments are Disabled Columns

File Sharing and Canadian Copyright Law

My regular Law Bytes column (freely available hyperlinked version; Toronto Star version, homepage version) features the second part of an examination of the recent Canadian Federal Court of Appeal decision involving the recording industry's attempt to identify 29 alleged file sharers. After considering the privacy issues last week, this column moves to the copyright implications by considering three questions: can the Canadian recording industry sue file sharers? Can it win such suits? And what legal reverberations might ensue if it does win?

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June 6, 2005 Comments are Disabled Columns