Michael Geist sez,
More than ten years of contentious debate over Canadian copyright law appeared to come to a conclusion in late June when Bill C-11 passed its final legislative hurdle and received royal assent. Yet despite characterizing the bill as a "vital building block", the copyright lobby that pressured the government to impose restrictive rules on digital locks and tougher penalties for copyright infringement is already demanding further reforms that include rolling back many key aspects of the original bill.
Unlike the last round of copyright reform that featured national consultations and open committee hearings, this time the lobby groups are hoping to use secretive trade negotiations to forge legislative change. Later today, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, an umbrella organization that represents movie, music, and software associations, will urge the U.S. government to pressure Canada to enact further reforms as part of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade negotiations. The group wants Canada to drop the notice-and-notice approach for ISPs in favor of an Internet termination scheme, to drop recent changes to copyright statutory damages, and to extend the term of copyright.
Copyright Lobby Demands Rollback of Recent Canadian Reforms in Secretive Trade Deal
(Thanks, Michael!)
