Copyright Bill: Born in USA?

Copyright Bill: Born in USA?
by: Michael Geist

With Industry Minister Jim Prentice preparing to unveil his controversial copyright bill, there has been considerable speculation about the role that the U.S. government has played in pressuring Canada to move on the copyright file. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins has been very vocal, repeatedly, if misleadingly, claiming that Canada's copyright laws are the most lax among the G7 nations.

While the influence of the U.S. government in crafting a Canadian version of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act has been a recurring theme, what has gone largely unnoticed is the role that some Canadian lobby groups have played in quietly encouraging the U.S. to step up the pressure. Indeed, according to documents recently obtained under the Access to Information Act, last spring Canadian Recording Industry Association president Graham Henderson met with Wilkins' counterpart -- Canada's Ambassador to the United States Michael Wilson -- to encourage him to pressure both governments to prioritize U.S. style copyright reforms.

The private May 2007 meeting led some government officials to openly question why the ambassador would be willing to meet with CRIA on such a sensitive file.

A report on the meeting noted that Henderson told Wilson that "everything the Embassy hears from stakeholders on IP issues is true." He added that the government should prioritize the ratification of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Internet treaties, remarking that the only prior attempt to address the issue -- the Liberal government's failed Bill C-60 -- died before the lobby group was "able to fix it in parliamentary committee."

Henderson also dismissed the privacy-related concerns associated with copyright reform (recently reiterated by Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart in a public letter), arguing that the government should not concern itself with the issue.

Read the entire article here: http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2008/02/06/CanCopyright/