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EU Demands Canada Gut Its Copyright and Patent Laws

Posted by samzenpus on from the try-again dept.

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."

13 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. What the hell? by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, as a Canadian this disgusts me. The EU, the US... What the hell gives these assholes the right to demand ANYTHING?

    Makes me absolutely sick to read this. There is nothing wrong with Canada's laws. And that is exactly why they want it changed, so there IS something wrong with it to throw the balance off hugely in favour of coporations.

    Despicable.

    1. Re:What the hell? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Funny

      Seriously, as a Canadian this disgusts me. The EU, the US... What the hell gives these assholes the right to demand ANYTHING?

      Calm down, mate. If a chief of some remote Polynesian tribe demands tomorrow that all the pale-skins from the Great White North shall submit to the will of his powerful god Yaka-Yaka, or else suffer his wrath, are you going to pay attention as well?

      If not, then treat this case the same way. After all, fundamentally, it is the same.

  2. Re:I can't remember... by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Fuck off, eh!"

  3. Re:Overestimating their power by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, it's a treaty. All the Canadians have to do is to not sign it.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  4. Re:51 st state? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're already American. North American!

    lol

  5. Re:Feh by blind+monkey+3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's a difference with this and seal hunts, corporations make money if seal hunts remain, corporations make money if copyright and patent laws are changed. The corporations will be on the other side for this.
    I suspect your government knows who to listen to, just as ours do.

    --
    BM3
  6. Re:Overestimating their power by TheCowSaysMooNotBoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    and what is the EU going to do? Give them a very dirty look?

  7. Re:Wow by future+assassin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because our gov. cares more about the well being of corporations then its citizens. Nothing new here but I think in the next 15 years will be a huge turning point around the world towards corporations controlling more and more of our lives. I'm ready for showdown, my parents did it in the early 80's in Poland and I'm ready to take their attitude towards corporate governments.

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  8. Re:Feh by Reed+Solomon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    corporations make money if the seal hunt remains?

    really?

    corporations?

    hahahahahahahah.

    The seal hunt has never been about profitability. Most seal hunters, while they hope to profit, are hardly corporations making tons of cash. For aboriginals and the atlantic sealers its a tradition and way of life.

    Seals are hardly going extinct. And in fact high seal numbers might be threatening populations of less photogenic animals.

    The real "corporations" are PETA and their ilk. They make the real money.

  9. Re:I can't remember... by QRDeNameland · · Score: 5, Informative

    How do you say "fuck off" in Canadian?

    Fuddle Duddle

    --
    Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
  10. Policy laundering by Geof · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, it's a treaty. All the Canadians have to do is to not sign it.

    In many cases this is a myth, a nice fiction we can tell ourselves to make us feel better. Treaties can be convenient way for governments to institute unpopular measures. Here's how it works:

    1. The government negotiates and signs the treaty. This can be done without any democratic oversight, as in the case of ACTA, because no legislation is being passed. (In some countries treaties can act as law without implementing legislation, but I'm pretty sure this is not the case in Canada.)
    2. The government signs the treaty. Again, no legislation is passed, so the this may be done unilaterally by the government or by a few individuals within it.
    3. Legislation is drawn up to implement the treaty. At this point, any democratic opposition is met with claims this is a "done deal". We signed the treaty and are obliged to live up to our international obligations with our trade partners. Trust us, it was the best deal we could get! (See policy laundering).
    4. Once implemented, the country is locked in: at that point we really do have obligations to other countries (conveniently, they also have obligations to us!). Treaties ratchet policy in one direction only.

    Keep in mind that the real push for this comes from multinational media corporations. Governments are not negotiating as independent actors: these corporations intervene on all sides to coordinate and even draft proposals. What we really have is a group of likeminded businesses who operate in concert using individual countries as a front. The treaty then appears to be the result of self-interested negotiations between independent actors: in fact the aim is to stage-manage it to appear that way. Given a means to diffuse opposition (e.g. policy laundering), governments - or, more specifically, the relevant politicians and bureaucrats within governments - may find that lobbyists make sure it is in their personal interest to cooperate.

    I have no personal knowledge of how this treaty is being negotiated. I am not accusing anyone of anything. I hope that the relevant individuals in government are representing the interests of Canadians. But I have no doubt this is the kind of thing the usual suspects are trying to pull. In which case the suggestion that "we can just say no" neatly conceals what's really happening.

    One final point: Canada is in no way the equal of the EU. The EU has over 500 million people to Canada's 32 million. We tend to anthropomorphize negotiations as though countries were freely contracting equal citizens. They aren't. They are unequal powers.

  11. Re:Our new overlords (a different meme) by c6gunner · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would that be "Up yours, mate!" or "May I have some more, sir?"

    You're thinking of Australia. Our response would be "Up yours, eh?"

  12. Dear World by whisper_jeff · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dear World,

    As one of the few countries in the world whose economy is not absolutely sitting in the toilet, we, the People of Canada, would like to politely ask you all to fuck off, eh. We appreciate your opinions on our intellectual property laws but, given that we're not bordering on bankruptcy and/or forcing our people to live in a Nanny-state like the rest of you seem to be, we are forced to assume we must be doing something right while the rest of you aren't exactly laying down templates of "how it should be done."

    We do apologize for the broad generalizations that may be made in this message but, really, the point remains - fuck off, eh. Mind your own damn business and we'll mind our own. We've done pretty well at minding our business and are just fine with things as they are. Thanks.

    Sincerely and respectfully, Canada.