Law Times

PAGE 10 Country faces pressures after U.S. releases critical report FOCUS Is Canada a piracy haven? BY PAUL BRENT For Law Times I nternationally, Canada has garnered something of a rep- utation as a "privacy haven," but copyright and intellectual ex- perts in this country say we stack up fairly well on that front. "I think [the piracy-haven tag] is really unfair. I don't think that is the case," says Samuel Trosow, an associate professor at the University of Western On- tario's faculty of law. "I think that there are certain features of Canadian copyright law that really have the Ameri- can content industry upset." Th ose waving red fl ags for U.S. content owners cite the Canadian benevolence to- wards downloading music and video over the Internet by pri- vate citizens — it's OK as long as they don't distribute it to others — and the country's shorter protection term for copyrighted works. "Th ere is a lot of pressure on Canada to increase the term to life plus 70," Trosow says. Currently, our copyright ex- tends just 50 years beyond the life of a creator, which has some rights holders hungrily eyeing profi ts, Trosow notes. "You have the situation where a lot of pop- ular works that still have a lot of commercial viability of people that died in the '50s, that stuff is in the public domain in Canada and not in the United States. You have got a lot of instances where works are in the public domain in Canada but are still in copy- right in the United States." As for Europe, a direct com- parison isn't so easy, he says. "Th ey are much stricter on copyright issues but they are also stricter on privacy and they are also stricter on competition. Even though they are stricter on copyright issues, there are often countervailing policies there that ameliorate the harshness of it. So to say that Canada's copyright policies are really weak, I think that all in all, Canada has a pret- ty strong copyright regime." While removing works from the public domain sounds far- fetched, in the United States the 1998 Copyright Term Exten- sion Act — better known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act — "did bring some works back retroactively," Trosow says. Here at home, the Canadian Recording Industry Association has consistently characterized this country as a haven for the piracy of copyrighted materials. Citing an OECD report claiming Can- ada has one of the highest rates of illicit fi le sharing in the world, blame for that change on digital piracy. It points out as well that digital music sales account for just 17 per cent of the Canadian market, which is well below the global average of 22 per cent de- spite our high broadband-pene- tration rate. Meanwhile, digital track sales in Canada, which historically have been nearly 10 per cent of U.S. activity, reached only 40.7 million units or barely four per cent of the U.S. total of 1.07 billion units. But University of Ottawa 'This is not the disaster that it is often made out to be,' Michael Geist says of Canada's music industry. the recording association notes our music market shrank to US$439 million in 2008 — less than half of the 1999 revenue peak — and pins much of the law professor Michael Geist doesn't buy the description of Canada as a digital-piracy ha- ven, a notion he calls "a very concerted propaganda cam- paign from some countries and some rights owners. "Th ere is a bit of irony that there are some rights holders who claim Canada is this piracy haven and then express concern when there are people on the Internet that might talk about Canada having lax rules." Geist adds that the copyright Canadian Patent Reporter Let the experts help you to narrow your search and save you research time. Canadian Patent Reporter has been Canada's leading intellectual property law report since 1942. This renowned resource, available online and in print, includes precedent-setting intellectual property law judicial and board decisions from across Canada. This publication provides practitioners with the leading decisions on patent, industrial design, copyright and trade-mark law. Topical catchlines in bold print show the key issues involved in each decision. Expert case selection and headnoting are a tradition with Canadian Patent Reporter. Weekly updates via email and in print, plus an annual cumulative index volume, ensure that this publication continues to be the prime reference source for intellectual property case law. Includes eReports (weekly electronic pdf version) Stay current as cases are issued with eReports e-mailed weekly to your desktop, with topically indexed case summaries linked to the full text judgments. report on Canada is actually not bad. "Th e reality is when you take a closer look at Canada's current copyright laws, we meet our international obligations, which is more than you can say for the United States, which is known not to." He notes as well that the gov- ernment made major changes to Canada's copyright legislation in the late '80s and late '90s. "So it is not as if we are dealing with legislation that has not been changed," he says. "It has con- tinually been changed over the last number of decades." Geist also rejects the music industry's complaints. "Th ey claim that the Canadian market has been a disaster. Th e truth of the matter is that the Canadian digital music market has grown faster than the United States for three years running. For physical sales, Canada has long been the sixth biggest music market in the world. [On our] digital music market, we rank seventh." As a result, Geist argues our ORDER your copy today Full service subscription (parts and bound volume) • $399 • 8 vol/yr P/C 0325094999 • ISSN 0008-4689 situation isn't so bad. "Th is is not the disaster that it is often made out to be. Th e industry is fac- ing challenges here like they are facing challenges in many other countries in the same way that many other industries are being turned upside down by the In- ternet. But it isn't a function of Canadian copyright law." LT February 8/15, 2010 • Law Times For a 30-day, no-risk evaluation call: 1.800.565.6967 Canada Law Book is a Division of The Cartwright Group Ltd. Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. CPR (LT 1-2x4)).indd 1 www.lawtimesnews.com LT0208 2/3/10 1:45:02 PM Edited by Marcus Gallie, Ridout & Maybee LLP Founding Editor: Gordon F. H oskin & H First, S Fourth Series (Volumes 1 to 65): Edited by Glen Bloom, Osler, H econd and Third Series: Edited by Gowling, Strathy & H arcourt LLP enderson, C.C., Q.C., LL.D. enderson

• Cover
• LSUC Relaxes Rules
• McLachlins Decade
• Focus On Intellectual Property/Trademark Law