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Canada moves to reform copyright protection
11/16/2007 10:55 PM, Reuters
The Canadian music biz is breathing a
sigh of relief after a government pledge to introduce
long-awaited copyright legislation aimed at solving the
country's music piracy problem.
The legislation might be introduced as soon as within the
next few weeks. Caroline Grondin, spokesperson for the Industry
Canada ministry, said the government is aware of the need to
move quickly.
"Canada's Copyright Act needs to be reformed to respond to
the challenges of the digital age," she said. "New protections
proposed for the benefit of rights holders will seek to address
online infringement as well as create a legal framework that
encourages the rollout, by rights holders, of new business
models."
Renewed interest in Canada's Copyright Act followed the
announcement of the legislation in October's Conservative Party
"throne speech," essentially a public list of the government's
upcoming priorities. Industry sources told Billboard that the
government has been under pressure from foreign countries to
update the legislation, which could be introduced before
Parliament begins its holiday break in December.
Graham Henderson, president of labels body the Canadian
Recording Industry Assn. (CRIA), said the legislation will
demonstrate the country's commitment to protecting its
songwriters and musicians.
"Is it going to replace our lost revenue every year? Of
course not," Henderson said. "But it is a start. Right now, our
big problem is that digital sales aren't replacing lost
physical sales. A new Copyright Act would help foster new
digital business models that haven't appeared in Canada because
of piracy."
DIGITAL DELAY
Despite 7.9 million broadband lines for a population of
33.4 million, according to the IFPI, Canada's legal digital
business has struggled to take off. According to Nielsen
Canadian SoundScan, digital sales account for just 5 percent of
overall sales for the year to date. Meanwhile, a 2006 study
conducted for the CRIA by pollster Pollara estimated that 1.3
billion music tracks are downloaded illegally in Canada each
year.
The music industry has long blamed the existing Copyright
Act for the proliferation of file sharing and the long-term
decline in CD sales, with shipments dropping a further 19
percent year on year in 2007 through August (the most recent
figures available), according to the CRIA.
But reform has been a long time coming. Canada signed two
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties
dealing with copyright protection in the digital age in 1997
but never ratified them or adopted their principles into law.
In June 2005, the then-Liberal government proposed new
copyright legislation, but the bill died when the government
fell the following January.
The effect of the existing 1921 legislation, underscored by
a series of court cases, is that downloading a song or making
files available for sharing does not constitute copyright
infringement.
The proposed new legislation has been broadly welcomed by
the Canadian industry, but musician lobby group the Canadian
Music Creators Coalition, whose members include Sarah McLachlan
and Avril Lavigne, warned the CRIA not to use the new law to
launch RIAA-style lawsuits.
"When the CRIA said 'copyright reform,' what they really
mean is 'give a free hand to sue fans who download,"' CMCC
spokesman and Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page said in a
statement. "We hope the government has a better solution in
mind."
But Henderson claimed his organization has no such plans.
"Canadians are law-abiding, and when this is made clear,
I'm confident they will follow the law," he said.
Still, Mark Hayes, a copyright lawyer at Blake, Cassels &
Graydon in Toronto, warned that the proposed changes may not be
the panacea the music industry is counting on.
"We're way behind on this and just starting to deal with
things we should have resolved years ago," Hayes said. "By
focusing on WIPO, we're overshadowing issues about online
rights and business models that are changing by the hour."
Reuters/Billboard
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