US Says Canadian Copyright As Bad As China's, Russia's

An anonymous reader writes "The US is blaming Canada in a new report that claims that Canadian copyright and intellectual property laws are as bad as those found in China and Russia. Michael Geist notes that Canadian officials have dismissed these findings in the past, arguing it 'does not recognize the Special 301 process due to its lacking of reliable and objective analysis.'" (Read more about the annual Special 301 report.)

Comments

Re:Tit for tat

[drinkypoo]

Unfortunately, although once a great trading republic, the United States is now a military empire,

WRONG. THe USA has pretty much always been a military empire. Many of our nation's first military actions were to go bomb some town south of our borders to force them to sell to United Fruit Company, which became Chiquita, which became Bonita — and which is still up to illegal tricks to keep their stranglehold on the banana industry in particular.

We are an independent nation, and don't react well to being told what we ought to do by our bankrupt southern neighbours.

You seem to do as you're told the majority of the time.

Re:Comparisons???

[inhuman_4]

Indeed, just look at the recent case where MacLean' Magazine (Canada's version of Time) got taken to the human rights commission for hate speech.

Watching that unfold really opened my eyes to just how draconian some of our hate speech laws are. The human rights commission has their own rules, and run a kangaroo court worthy of Stalin.

MacLean's only got out of it because they have such a large readership. A huge part of the Canadian population was watching the proceedings and the human rights commission had to let MacLean's go. Otherwise the public would have demanded their closure. But from what I have read a few smaller companies and individuals have been taken to the cleaners by these guys.

I am generally pretty happy with the laws here in Canada, but there are a few things that make you wonder what kind of clowns are running this country.

On a happier note, the Canadian RIAA pushed for those stupid levees on our CDs to compensate for piracy. They made a good buck on that scam too. But now the tables have finally turned. We already have a system for compensating them for piracy. They can lobby all they want but the legal precedent is in place. Generally judges are less corrupt then politicians, so we do stand a chance.

Re:Comparisons???

[Phazm]

For a list of Canadian Bands
Please see below for some Canadian bands you may not have heard of from the 90's (and earlier) to check out on youtube. Listening to a song from one of their first 2 albums is a good place to start.

*Bands you'll probably like*

*90's*
I Mother Earth
The Tea Party
The Tragically Hip
Age of Electric
Sam Roberts Band
Big Wreck
Moist
Our Lady Peace

*Older*
Rush The Guess Who - "American Woman"
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Neil Young & Crazy Horse

*Bands you may like*
Barenaked Ladies
Big Sugar
Blue Rodeo
The Crash Test Dummies
Econoline Crush
54-40
Finger Eleven
The Gandharvas
Gob
Jeff Healey Band
Killjoys
Matthew Good Band
Prozzak
Sloan
Spirit of the West
Treble Charger
Wide Mouth Mason
Zuckerbaby

Hope you enjoy some of the talent we have here up north.
Regards,
Chris

Ensuing Silence - A Canadian Band I played in. Check out the solo in "Believe It"
www.myspace.com/ensuingsilence

Re:Backhanded Compliment?

[i_ate_god]

While I agree with you on America's messed up copyright laws, the problem apparently is that a lot of commercially bootlegged products make it into the US through Canada. The Canadian government essentially permits this, for example, if you drive across the border with a truck full of DVDs, the Canadian customs agents can't stop you without getting a warrant. If I were the Canadian government, I would consider allowing this until the US agrees to a more reasonable copyright, say 20 years.

20 years? How about, until the author dies. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of people like you telling me what I can and can not do with my music. Yeah, I want to give it away for free, does not mean that 20 years from now, you can use my music as the backing song to a commercial espousing views I don't believe in. It does not mean in 20 years you can take my work, remix it to something you like more, and claim it as your own. I'm sick and fucking tired of extremists who are either trying to screw over the audience, or screw over the creator.

I don't believe in DRM, I don't believe in gouging fans. Like I said, I'd rather give away my music for free and release limited edition albums for collectors. But I don't want to see my music taken away from me so long as I'm alive. And even after death, what then? Stop pushing for limited copyright lengths, you sound just as selfish as the record labels you're trying to fight against and it doesn't really inspire the artists to hear that you expect them to give up their hard work in the near future.