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: Michael Geist

CRIA Goes To Washington

By Michael Geist

The Toronto Star reports on a lobbying trip to Washington this week by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.  I'm guessing that the discussions did not focus on the fact that:

• U.S. digital music services blame high licence fees - not copyright - for avoiding the Canadian market
• the Canadian digital music market has grown faster than the U.S. market for the past four years
• according to the 2009 IFPI global data, Canada's digital market stood 7th worldwide, while ranking 6th for all recorded music - in other words, about what you would expect.  Of the top 20 global markets for recorded music, the IFPI said that Canada ranked 5th for the percentage of digital sales.  Indeed, digital music sales as a percentage of total sales in Canada is ahead of every major European country. The U.S. may lead Canada (though growing at a far slower rate), but the IFPI reported that Canada is ahead of France, Britain, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Russia.  Canada also led countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa. 
• leading executives rank Canadian IP protection ahead of the U.S.
• the Business Software Alliance this year found that Canada was a world leader in reducing infringement as it hit an all-time low
  
• while there are BitTorrent sites in Canada, CRIA has the tools to target them today but has chosen not to do so.  In fact, current Canadian copyright law was used against QuebecTorrent and CRIA is challenging isoHunt's claims that it is operating lawfully in Canada by pointing to the current state of the law.
• a U.S. appellate court has ruled that "merely bypassing a technological protection that restricts a user from viewing or using a work is insufficient to trigger the DMCA's anti-circumvention provision. The DMCA prohibits only forms of access that would violate or impinge on the protections that the Copyright Act otherwise affords copyright owners."  This is far less restrictive than Bill C-32.
• U.S. rules contain a mandatory review of anti-circumvention exceptions every three years, but Bill C-32 only contains a review of the entire law every five years with no specific examination of anti-circumvention rules or mechanisms for new exceptions.
• U.S. rules now contain an exception for unlocking and jailbreaking a cellphone.  Bill C-32 only covers unlocking.
• U.S. rules now contain an exception for education to circumvent DVD protection to gather a short clip.  Bill C-32, despite various new education exceptions, would treat this as an infringement.
• U.S. rules contain an exception for documentary film makers to circumvent DVD protection to gather a short clip.  Bill C-32, despite various new creator exceptions for parody and satire, would treat this as an infringement.
• U.S. rules contain an exception for everyone to circumvent DVD protection to gather a short clip to create non-commercial videos.  Bill C-32 includes an exception for non-commercial videos, but do not exempt circumvention.
• U.S. law contains a flexible fair use provision that covers everything from recording television shows to making backup copies.  Bill C-32 contains a series of new fair dealing exceptions that are collectively still more restrictive than the U.S. fair use and are still subject to digital locks.
• there are at least another 20 examples of instances where Canadian law is more restrictive or tougher than U.S. law
• the music industry is sharply divided on Bill C-32
• as a Washington insider told the Star, "Canada is not breaking any international treaties"
  

As always, none of this is to say that Canada should not engage in copyright reform.  It should.  And as I note in the Toronto Star piece, I think there is much to like in Bill C-32 and if we can find a compromise on the digital lock issue, I believe it is a bill worth supporting.  That said, Canada needs to reform its laws based facts and the national interest, not lobbying trips designed to embarrass the country into changing its laws.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on September 24, 2010 (boomark / email).