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EU Demands Canada Rework Its Copyright, Patent Law
An anonymous reader writes "The draft intellectual property text of the EU - Canada Trade Agreement has leaked, with news that the EU is demanding that Canada fundamentally alter copyright, patent, and trademark law. The laundry list of demands includes copyright term extension, WIPO ratification, DMCA-style legislation, resale rights, new enforcement provisions, and following patent, trademark, and design law treaties. The net result is that when combined with the ACTA requirements, Canadian copyright law may cease to be Canadian." Reader TheTurtlesMoves stresses the "first sale doctrine" aspect of the Canada - EU negotiations. Once an artist sells a creative work, should she get a cut of any future resales of that same work? The EU says yes at least for some types of works, and it wants Canada to see things its way. "Europe's Directive 2001/84/EC says that the right covers only 'works of graphic or plastic art such as pictures, collages, paintings, drawings, engravings, prints, lithographs, sculptures, tapestries, ceramics, glassware and photographs, provided they are made by the artist himself or are copies considered to be original works of art.'"
They have enough asinine copyright laws as it is. Seriously? An extra charge on blank optical and tape media because it "might" be used to pirate? Does this go for hard drives and bandwidth? I'm with the current US and Canada system. The artist don't benefit much, it's the royalty houses are the ones that really benefit. Don't they get enough from performance, broadcast, sales, etc..? Artist can go broke trying to collect their money.
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Since our current conservative party government thinks leadership is waiting to be told what to do by other countries, I guess Canada can expect EU-style copyright laws shortly.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Just as a matter of principal, Canada should give them a nice hearty "F**k you, eh!"
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
As a Canadian, to all foreign powers who demand we change our laws to match yours, I say fuck you. Get your house in order before you tell us how to get ours in order.
I might be paranoid, but I don't believe the US had nothing to do with this. The dollar might not be as strong as the euro right now, but enough of them will still buy you plenty of politicians.
I'd rather you rationally disagree than irrationally agree.
The last time I checked Canada wasn't in Europe. Let's hope our politicians realize that.
I might be paranoid, but I don't believe the US had nothing to do with this.
Because otherwise the EU wouldn't be pushing for this? Are you joking? The EU hardly is a utopia when it comes to copyrights.
Canada should not allow itself to be bullied into adopting bad copyright law. While the European Union appears quite eager to be as bad (or worse) than the United States in terms of harmful copyright legislation, I sincerely hope Canada will put its citizens interests above those of copyright holders. I'm not against globalization, but countries must sometimes defend their sovereignty for the sake of their citizens.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
I wish I could mod you up. The Canadian people are supposed to make our laws. If we don't want your copyright laws too bad for you. I'd rather live without even seeing another European book or movie in my life then have them make my laws. Mr. PM are you listening?
US politicians are simply cheaper to bribe than EU politicians due to the weak dollar.
I won't worry about America until our politicians start only accepting bribes in Euros.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
That is not what international law is at all. International law is the stuff that happens in The Hague and it has been around a long time and is desperately needed. It governs such silly every day things as trade. If you trade between countries (between sets of laws) which one goes? Well, that is what international law is for.
And it is in Holland because Holland was ONCE a world-power (yes really) but lost that status but still had a need to maintain its trading empire. So while the british and other powers settled trade disputes with the law of the biggest gun(boat) Holland needed something more.
International law is an entirely different beast then this, what we are talking about here are treaties. It may look the same, but it is fundementally different.
In fact, the current system is so wrong because it seeks to bypass laws altogether. The media companies are waging a very complex war against basic law by trying to get a new set of laws introduced by means that were never intended. Trade treaties were supposed to be "We sell you X and you don't charge for it and we allow you sell us Y without charging tariffs on it". Not "you will subject your citizens to our laws".
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I thought the dark possible future of the US was the current UK?
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Is it just me or is the EU starting to sound like the US?
It's not really "Anti American" (some of us still like individual Americans) -- it's "Anti export of American laws to the rest of the world".
It is entirely American companies who have been pushing to have the DMCA exported, who are responsible for including it in that secretive ACTA treaty they're not allowed to tell us the details of, and it's American intellectual property stakeholders who are trying to push this on everyone else.
The goal is seemingly to try to export laws to the rest of the world that makes all laws and technologies subservient to the wishes of content and media companies. Sadly, we can't even accuse America of colonialism in this case -- it's more like oligarchy.
As far as changing the right of first sale so that the artist gets a cut every time the piece is sold -- I say horseshit. That makes no sense.
Sadly, I fear that soon most nations will get swept up in this stupidity and before long we'll only be able to do what the media companies tell us we're allowed to. If they get this enshrined into every country's laws, before long, they'll be able to dictate how technology works so guarantee that nothing which they don't want us to have (and for which they can't continue to bill us) is allowed.
Time to start voting from the rooftops.
Forget about the small ragtag bands of Middle Eastern terrorists. They aren't a real threat to freedom and democracy.
Legislation like this, pushed by supranational organizations, is. It is a far, far bigger threat to everybody's freedom and the democracy of Western nations than any terrorist organization.
I realize that it's a common mistake, but Canada is not, in fact, in Europe.
Spain, the Czech Republic, and Finland are all members of the European Union. And in Europe.
Defeating the entire purpose of the law in the first place: to protect small time artists.
Where did you get that?
I'm pretty certain that the entire purpose of the law is to make large multinational corporations the gateholders to our arts and culture, and prevent small-time artists from entering the market from without sponsorship from said corps.
Well, I think this is a short term vision. What rich countries need to stay rich is not IP, it is the power to create new and innovative IP. Likewise, a country owning factories is richer than a country owning final goods. IP laws are good for the capitalization of IPs and bad for the creation of IPs. Walt Disney makes more profits from every year's movie they are making than from Donald Duck or Snow White. But protecting those 50+ years old IPs prevent them from being used as raw material for new ones. I honestly believe that even if rich countries were going to be egoistical, they should shorten copyright durations.
Also I am from EU and this move surprises me. EU has been somehow resistant to US-imported copyright lobbyists. The fact that they are the ones weighting in on these issues is disturbing to say the least. I hope our MPs will protest.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.