CTV is reporting that Prime Minister Stephen Harper today will confirm what has become increasingly obvious – under pressure from the U.S. and Hollywood studios, Canada will introduce anti-camcording legislation. Harper is using California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's visit to Ottawa to serve notice of the proposed bill. That approach really […]
Post Tagged with: "movie piracy"
MPAA Trumpets Spiderman 3 Camcording Crackdown
Jon Healey of the LA Times points to a joint release today [pdf] from the MPAA and the National Association of Theatre Owners trumpeting their success in stopping the camcording of Spiderman 3. The release notes that the industry stopped 31 camcording attempts worldwide, which it credits with helping lead […]
U.S. Pressure on Canadian IP Grows
Following on comments from U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins, U.S. Senators Feinstein and Cornyn, as well as the USTR's Special 301 Report, the U.S. Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus has joined the chorus of criticism against Canada on intellectual property law. The Caucus released its annual report yesterday and while not yet […]
Yet More Committee Hearings on Counterfeiting
Two Canadian hearings on counterfeiting in one month is apparently not enough. The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights last week passed a motion to conduct hearings on counterfeiting and movie camcording. The Chair of the Committee acknowledged that it would be good to actually see the reports from […]
Questionable Questions
Copyright and movie camcording were both raised yesterday during Question Period in the House of Commons. While the responses from Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda and Industry Minister Maxime Bernier were about as expected (essentially "we're working on it"), the questions from Bloc Heritage Critic Maka Kotto are revealing. Kotto focused on Canada's "outdated" copyright law and asked when it will be modified to "be in line with the two WIPO treaties Canada ratified in 1996." Regular readers will know that Canada did not ratify the treaties in 1996. Rather, Canada signed the treaties in 1997 and there is a world of difference between signing and ratifying a treaty.
Kotto's question about movie piracy lumped Canada together with China, Malaysia, and India, while claiming that "Canadian industry and the Government of Canada have suffered estimated losses of several million dollars."
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