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EU Demands Canada Gut Its Copyright and Patent Laws
An anonymous reader writes "Late last year, a draft of the European Union proposal for the
intellectual property chapter of Canada, EU Comprehensive Economic
Trade Agreement, leaked online.
The leak revealed that the EU was seeking some significant changes to
Canadian IP laws. Negotiations have continued and Michael Geist
has now obtained an updated copy
of the draft chapter, complete with proposals from both the EU and
Canada. He says the breadth of the demands is stunning — the EU
is demanding nothing less than a complete overhaul of Canadian IP laws
including copyright, trademark, databases, patent, geographic
indications, and even plant variety rights."
"Excuse me, sir, but would you please be so kind as to fuck off? Sorry to bother you again."
The EU Commission is a non-elected body which has as it sole mandate[1] to restrict the rights of citizens, and extend the rights of EU based corporations. It is the Commission that negotiate these treaties, and in general propose new legislation.
The EU Parliament is an elected body which cannot propose new legislation, but can, and sometimes do, block the proposals from the commission. The good stuff you hear from the EU is usually from the Parliament, but they contribute their share of crap as well, as parliaments do everywhere.
[1] Judging by its actions.
How do you say "fuck off" in Canadian?
Fuddle Duddle
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
There is one in spanish: estadounidense :P
Despite the fact that we didn’t ever elect them, they are called “our” government.
You did not vote for the commission, but the parliament did, and every adult EU citizen had a chance to elect the parliament. Which does not make it so much different from countries were people elect a parliament, which then elects the government - like it is the case in Germany.
Seriously. The USA is by FAR our biggest trading partner. They have been trying to bend us over for years about IP, Copyright and Patent law. If we are not about to capitulate the them, what makes the EU think we give a flying fuck what they say....
Shooting them is A) the most humane way to go about it
Actually, fun fact: Shooting them isn't necessarily the most humane way to go about it. The problem is that, unless you're a very good shot, you're far more likely to wound the animal rather than killing it outright. But a well-placed strike with a hakapik is very quick and effective in trained hands, comparable with established and acceptable humane killing practices according to the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards.
As you say, though, the whole thing is massively overblown thanks to organizations like PETA. Hell, in that wikipedia link, there's a rather interesting quote from a WWF study on seal hunting practices:
But, hey, what does the WWF know?
because the WTO saying stuff actually makes a difference to US behaviour. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/business/worldbusiness/22iht-wto.4296092.html A quick reminder that the EU is bigger and far more bureaucratic
Canadian IP laws explicitly legalize fair use (e.g. format-shifting), and even limited nonprofit sharing of copyrighted works (due to fee on "recordable media"). Canada doesn't have software patents, nor any kind of DMCA-like anti-circumvention provision.
In what way do Canadian laws "mirror those in the US"? If anything, I'd say it's one of the better countries in terms of those, which is precisely why USA govt has been throwing a hissy fit about Canadian IP laws for several years now.