Canada Finally Guilty As Charged?

As we await in intense suspense the "Special 301" report from Washington, it is perhaps time for Canada to confess to its past piracy peccadilloes.

The NY Times has a dramatic exposé of Canadian piracy, counterfeiting, intermediary liability and cross border illicit commerce and piracy that has devastated the American music publishing industry by 50%. The American music publishers were sufficiently concerned that they held a three day conference about this "last week."

The thing is that "last week" was the first week or so of June, 1897. The technology involved was newspapers, the post office, classified ads and sheet music.

Here's the link to the NY Times story. See also below.

So, if the USTR can't come up with any current hard evidence for the "Special 301" blast we are expecting momentarily, or as a basis to check iPods and laptops and invade ISPs under ACTA, they can at say that Canada's piracy goes back at least to the 19th century.

Then, there are those who say that:

"The first American "pirate" was probably Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), who was, among other things, a Philadelphia printer who re-published the works of British authors in the eighteenth century without seeking their permission or offering remuneration."

The moral of the story may be that sometimes, maybe, you can step in the same river twice.

Or, that this is a new take on a "blast from the past."

HT to Cory and MG.

HK