WIPO Treaties Archives

The Owens analysis of the Canadian copyright consultations: what are the implications?

Earlier this week, Richard Owens, the past chair of the board of directors of the University of Toronto Innovations Foundation, a member of the board and former Executive Director of the Centre for Innovation and Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and an adjunct professor of copyright and technology law at the University of Toronto, published a critical analysis of last summer’s copyright consultation. In his paper, Noises Heard: Canada’s Recent Online Copyright Consultation Process: Teachings and Cautions, he concluded that the consultation “was systematically abused by a clandestine group of mod-chip distributors, foreign websites administrators and international BitTorrent users”. …

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Calling out misreporting about ACTA

As I have pointed out before on several occasions, there is a lot of inaccurate reporting about ACTA. In some cases, the misreporting is done by people who are intimately familiar with the actual text of the publically available draft treaty documents. In other cases, the misreporting results from relying on those widely disseminated inaccurate secondary sources.

A case in point is recent article published by the Ottawa Citizen and other Canwest newspapers such as the Montreal Gazette , Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Windsor Star, and the Vancouver Sun dealing with ACTA.…

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More hype than facts about ACTA from its critics

The internet is lighting up again with opposition to the ACTA as negotiations on the trade agreement resume in New Zealand. Notwithstanding that much about the treaty is now known from well publicized leaks, its critics continue to try and slag it with misinformation and biased criticism.

Consider the following summary by Prof. Geist in yesterday’s Toronto Star article which was re-published in his blog this morning. Prof. Geist says:

“the text confirmed many fears about the substance of ACTA. If adopted in its current form, the treaty would have a significant impact on the Internet, leading some countries to adopt three-strikes-and-you’re-out policies that terminate subscriber access due to infringement allegations, increasing legal protection for digital locks, mandating new injunction powers, implementing statutory damages provisions worldwide, and engaging in widespread data sharing across national borders.”…

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Misinterpreting the IPR 2010 Report

The Intellectual Property Rights Alliance just published its 2010 report reviewing countries’ rankings on various indexes measuring their respect for property rights. The aim of the report was to show the clear link between a country’s respect for property rights and economic prosperity.

According to the report, the link can be seen in all forms of property including intellectual property. Dealing with the latter, the report states:

“The modern economy relies not only on physical property rights but also intellectual property rights (IPRs).…

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Reflections on the liberal roundtable on the digital economy

Last week, Liberal Industry critic Marc Garneau and Heritage critic Pablo Rodriguez hosted a roundtable on the digital economy in Ottawa. There were two panels. One was on our modern digital infrastructure. The other one was on copyright, broadcasting and the Internet. I participated in the copyright roundtable along with representatives from the ESAC, ACTRA, Rogers and Prof. Geist.

I commend Messrs. Garneau and Rodriguez for organizing this event. Developing a strategy for Canada’s digital future is a critical component of ensuring prosperity and opportunities for all Canadians.…

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Fung and Isohunt found liable for inducing worldwide copyright infringement

Earlier this week, a US district court granted summary judgement to MPAA members holding that Gary Fung and four websites operated by him, including Isohunt one of Canada’s largest bittorrent sites, contribute to massive worldwide copyright infringement.

Operators of bittorrent sites like isoHunt often claim they are nothing but content neutral search engines like Google. The Isohunt court disagreed holding, based on uncontested expert evidence, that approximately 95 percent of all files made accessible through Isohunt were infringing or highly likely to be infringing.…

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Only once more – and then Marry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody, including Professor Geist and his devoted followers: the 1996 WIPO Diplomatic Conference, the WIPO Treaties and the balance of interests

Christmas is two days away; I have to concentrate on my eight grandchildren. I am really not in the mood to deal with copyright, and I do not want to read books, articles and blogs about it this year anymore. However, a colleague of mine in Germany (he may not have been in full Christmas mood yet like me) sent me an e-mail asking me to correct somebody’s allegations which he has found obviously untrue (in fact he has used certain adjectives to describe his opinion about those allegations, which, however, I – sticking on the spirit of what is called, at least in my country, the holiday of love – definitely do not want to quote).…

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Dr. Ficsor is right; Prof. Geist is wrong about the WIPO Internet Treaties

Earlier this week, Dr. Ficsor posted a blog inviting Canada to join the international community by ratifying the WIPO Internet Treaties. Dr. Ficsor is an internationally revered copyright scholar and professor and the former Assistant Director General of WIPO. As his posting pointed out, he was also responsible for organizing the preparatory work of the two Treaties, for the 1996 Diplomatic Conference adopting them, and for the first efforts to achieve their adequate implementation, There is no one on the planet who knows more about the treaties or what was intended by them than him.…

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Dr. Ficsor: An invitation to Canada to join the international community by ratifying the WIPO Internet Treaties

Geneva, December 21, 2009: An invitation – presented to Canada to join the international community by ratifying and duly implementing the WIPO “Internet Treaties” – that should not be turn down

On December 14, the international copyright community had a big celebration in Geneva at the headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organizations (WIPO). The ambassadors of 16 Member States of the European Union and the European Union itself deposited their instruments of ratification of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT).…

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