Canadian Copyright Amendment Faces Further Delays
Posted in Intellectual Property, Legislation, News, Politics
A Canadian bill designed to amended and strengthen Canada’s existing Copyright Act has met further delays. The bill, originally placed on the House of Commons order paper in December, is said to closely mimic the United State’s copyright scheme and will effect the level of control Canadian consumers have over the media and products they purchase.
Currently, recording television shows and ripping music from a compact disc for use on an MP3 player are against Canadian law, but there is no practicable enforcement mechanism. The new bill hopes to remedy this situation.
Jason Kee, director of policy with the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, has stated that the organization is in favor of the new bill. The video game industry hopes that the bill will allow Internet service providers to monitor downloads and disable the unauthorized transfer of video games and related files — an action that was previously disallowed by Canadian courts. Kee stated:
“It’s clear the ISP’s have this capacity … Similarly, they actually do have the capacity of basically disrupting particular communications, and that’s essentially the kind of activity we’d be seeking.”
Despite numerous delays, Industry Minister Jim Prentice recently stated that the bill is still a work in progress. It appears that the bill will not come to a vote before the end of the spring session of Parliament. As a result, there will not likely be any change to Canada’s aging Copyright Law before Parliament’s long summer recess.
[via CTV.ca]
