U.S. Copyright Report More Rhetoric Than Reality

CanuckGamer writes "Michael Geist has up a great article debunking the U.S. 'Special 301' report that is set to be released this week. The annual copyright report criticizes dozens of countries on their copyright practices, yet Geist notes that the policies are subject to growing criticism within the U.S. and that few countries are actually listening since most ignore the recommendations. 'While the report will generate media headlines and cries for immediate action from Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda, the reality is that Canada's record on intellectual property protection meets international standards. Moreover, differences between the U.S. and Canadian economies - the U.S. is a major exporter of cultural products and has therefore unsurprisingly made stronger copyright protection a core element of its trade strategy while Canada is a net importer of cultural products with a billion dollar annual culture deficit - means that U.S.-backed reforms may do more harm than good.'"

Comments

What Canada should say to the US

[kilgortrout]

You need our oil more than we need your movies:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_ publications/company_level_imports/current/import. html

Now go piss off.

Cultural?

[ingo23]

"the U.S. is a major exporter of cultural products"

I think the word you are looking for is "entertainment". Unless you forgot the quotes.

Boo!

[Itninja]

Good thing the headline isn't slanted or editorialized. Oh wait....

Re:A billion-dollar cultural deficit?

[Lockejaw]

Using the term "cultural deficit" doesn't seem quite right -- it implies that the USA has a cultural surplus.

Re:The Shat you say?

[Znork]

Unless it's protected by intellectual monopoly legislation. Then you get to count it until the monopoly expires.

Really tho, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda should take a good hard look at how multiple hundreds of millions of dollars transferred out of the Canadian economy, and consequently the loss of a fair number of jobs, would serve Canadian industry or Canadian cultural workers.

The USA... of course.

[asninn]

Just out of curiosity, what business do the USA have criticising other country's copyright laws, anyway? If Canada - for example - told the USA that their copyright laws are inadequate and need to be overhauled, they'd quickly be told to mind their own damn business and not meddle in other countries' internal affairs - and rightfully so, too. Why do the USA think that they have the right to do the same thing?

Or, more specifically: why don't the PEOPLE see anything wrong with it when the administration(s) (both past and present) think they have the right to meddle in the affairs of other countries?

Re:Ummm....

[ShieldW0lf]

If we are trading a billion dollars worth of minerals, water, energy, lumber and manufactured goods out for a billion dollars worth of permission to something that would be free for the taking if we changed our laws, it makes it pretty fucking clear what we should do.

We should dump the laws entirely. If that means trade drops such that we keep our billion dollars worth of stuff for ourselves and don't receive a billion dollars worth of empty "permission to copy" notes, we are much better off.

The fact that it isn't happenening speaks to the motives of our elected officials.