Posts Tagged ‘copycon’

With a copyright bill only weeks away, thousands of Canadians are again speaking out for a fair, balanced approach.  The public interest in copyright has predictably led to mischaracterizations of fair copyright as some claim that it is really about wanting everything for free or about opposing copyright reform.  This increasingly leads to a blame the user mentality - the award-winning Vancouver ... Full story

Months of public debate over the future of Canadian copyright law were quietly decided earlier this week, when sources say the Prime Minister's Office reached a verdict over the direction of the next copyright bill.  The PMO was forced to make the call after Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement were unable to reach consensus on the broad framework of a ... Full story

The Wire Report reports on the government's reaction to last summer's copyright consultation.  An Industry Canada spokesperson says: "given the unprecedented level of participation, and the many important views and opinions received, the copyright consultations are considered a tremendous success. As Industry Canada considers future consultation processes, we will draw on the success and lessons we learned during the copyright consultations." ... Full story

Since his appointment as Canadian Heritage minister in 2008, James Moore has carefully crafted an image as "Canada's iPod Minister." Young, bilingual, and tech-savvy, Moore has expressed regular support for the benefits of the Internet and is always ready with a quick "tweet" for his many followers.  Yet as my op-ed in the Hill Times notes (HT version (sub required), homepage version), according ... Full story

Toronto IP lawyer Richard Owens has posted an analysis of last summer's national copyright consultation in which he concludes that "if the aim of the Consultation was to canvass public opinion and discern trends, it failed." Given that the copyright consultation attracted greater participation than virtually any government consultation effort in recent memory, it is hard to see how it can be deemed ... Full story

The copyright consultation concluded last fall and it seems worth reminding Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement what Canadians had to say when they asked for their opinion on copyright reform.  It has taken some time to calculate the final numbers as the government conducted a review to ensure that all were properly posted. There were ultimately more than 8,300 submissions ... Full story

Howard Knopf provides his take on why SOCAN wanted to keep its copyright submission secret.  The key issue - retroactive legislative reform. Full story

The government has now completed posting all the submissions it received during the copyright consultation (I'll be posting a final summary shortly).  Interestingly, the final submission to be posted was from SOCAN, but it came with some controversy.  Sources say that SOCAN requested that its submission not be posted online.  The terms of the consultation clearly indicated that all submissions would be posted, ... Full story

Forgotten amidst the focus on ACTA over the past two weeks, was a recent column (HT PDF version, homepage version) I wrote for the Hill Times on the lessons that can be drawn from this summer's copyright consultation. The piece appears as part of a special section on copyright that included an interview with Industry Minister Tony Clement, Charlie Angus, Howard Knopf, ... Full story

The Osgoode Hall Review of Law and Policy has published a compilation of copyright consultation submissions in its November 2009 issue. Full story