Minister Moore on a "really toxic and, frankly, really dumb" iPod "tax"

The Hon. James Moore said in Parliament yesterday:

This idea of imposing a new tax on iPods and MP3 players is not a new idea because there are very few new ideas, unfortunately, that come from the opposition on the issues of copyright and taxes. However, this idea is really toxic and, frankly, really dumb. This would punish consumers if we were to put in place a tax of up to $75 on iPods, Blackberries, cell phones, laptops, computers, memory sticks and automobiles, anything that is capable of playing digital music. (emphasis added)

Here's a link to the whole exchange with BQ member Carolyn Lavallée.

No one can say that the Hon. James Moore saves all of his plain speaking rhetoric only for "radical extremists".

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the sometimes internecine dynamics of the Canadian music industry.

BTW, Mme Lavallée was quite wrong when she said (see below) that "No one has said anything about $75, other than the minister".

This was the precise amount sought by the CPCC itself in its proposed tariff filed in 2007 that we got shot down decisively and for the second time by the Federal Court of Appeal on January 10, 2008.

For convenience, here's the whole exchange from the House of Commons on September 22, 2010:

[Translation]

Mrs. Carole Lavallée (Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, BQ):

Mr. Speaker, it is my great pleasure to be back in the late show once again. As you know, I have often taken part because we never get good answers to the questions we ask in the House. Question period is aptly named; it certainly is not answer period.

On April 20, I asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage a question in the House because he had stated the day before that only ADISQ was in favour of a royalty on MP3s. Everyone knows that an MP3 royalty is not a tax. It is money paid to a collective society that distributes rights, and that money is redistributed to artists according to a complex but fair formula.

Members of all of our households have purchased CDs and made copies for our MP3 players. We used to burn copies on blank CDs to play in our cars, and long before that, we made copies on four-track cassettes. These days, we are making fewer and fewer copies on four-track cassettes and CDs.

The current law, a descendant of the long-ago Bill C-42, recognizes the principle of private copying. We know that people make copies for themselves, and that is why royalties exist. They compensate for the shortfall in copyright revenue that artists might receive. They do not exist to legalize copying for any purpose or in any way whatsoever. Their purpose is not to market copies—anything but. They exist so that consumers do not feel like thieves every time they make a personal copy to listen to on their computer or MP3 player.

Of course we cannot purchase as many original CDs by a single artist as we have devices in our homes. The principle of private copying allows a family that purchases a CD to copy it to various media. Naturally, when the current legislation was passed in 1995, MP3 players did not exist. They do now. We are asking, have asked and will continue to ask the government, in the next few weeks, months and over the course of the year, when discussing Bill C-32, to update the legislative provisions for private copying by ensuring that not only will there be a levy on CDs, not only will there be a levy on cassettes, but there will also be a levy on MP3 players such as iPods. Nothing more, nothing less.

I know that in a few minutes my Conservative colleague will reply that it will cost $75 per device. An amount has never been set but it is obvious that this is a reasonable amount. We pay 29¢ in royalties on all blank cassettes and CDs. That is not a tax. We said it before and we will say it again. It is not in any way a tax. A tax is paid to government but in this case the payment goes to the artists. It is quite simply a royalty paid to artists. We already do this when we purchase an original CD of a musical work because a portion of the money is paid to the artist for copyright.

That was the purpose of my question.

(1815)

[Table of Contents]

Hon. James Moore (Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, CPC):

Madam Speaker, I was not really prepared to discuss this question from my Bloc Québécois colleague, but we are here to discuss the important matter of the firearms registry. I will take this opportunity to point out that our government is against a new tax, which goes against the interests of consumers, on iPods, BlackBerrys, computers, automobiles, laptops and anything else that is capable of playing music. But that is what the Bloc Québécois is proposing.

I understand the concerns she has raised about copyright, and that is why our government introduced Bill C-32, which would modernize our country's copyright laws. We conducted unprecedented consultations to ensure that everyone was involved in the copyright debate. As a result of our consultations, we introduced Bill C-32, a very responsible bill for both consumers and artists.

What we are talking about here is the fact that the NDP, the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois want to impose a huge new tax on consumers. The last time that the Bloc Québécois spoke here, the last time that this tax was proposed, it was a new $75 tax on every iPod, BlackBerry, computer and laptop, on anything that is capable of playing music.

[English]

This idea of imposing a new tax on iPods and MP3 players is not a new idea because there are very few new ideas, unfortunately, that come from the opposition on the issues of copyright and taxes. However, this idea is really toxic and, frankly, really dumb. This would punish consumers if we were to put in place a tax of up to $75 on iPods, Blackberries, cell phones, laptops, computers, memory sticks and automobiles, anything that is capable of playing digital music.

I understand the idea of modernizing the private copying levy and I understand the desire, but every time the opposition has come up with an idea with regard to this, I can say, as we have looked at this issue and we have struggled with this issue, that it gets very tricky.

This simplistic idea that has been put forward by the opposition, the Bloc Québécois, the NDP and the Liberal Party, with regard to a new iPod tax is incredibly shortsighted and it is an incredibly bad idea for consumers. It is not the way to go. We have artist after artist who has come forward and said that this is not the way to go.

We will go forward as a government will Bill C-32, the modernizing copyright legislation. We are prepared to work with the opposition parties to ensure the legislation is in the interest of consumers and in the interest of creators. We will not support an amendment to our copyright bill that puts in place a massive new tax on consumers. We will not support that. It will not happen.

However, we are more than prepared to take forward reasonable ideas to ensure that artists' creations are protected and to ensure that just compensation and the framework for that, through effective copyright legislation, goes forward. We also want to ensure that the legislation takes care of what is in the best interests of consumers.

This idea from the Bloc Québécois is a massive tax increase on consumers. It does not achieve the balance that we want to achieve, which is in the interest of consumers and creators, and we will block every effort by the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to put forward any tax on consumers that will punish consumers and do nothing that is in the long-term interest of creators.

[Translation]

[Table of Contents]

Mrs. Carole Lavallée:

Madam Speaker, obviously artists and creators want to be protected, but they also want to be paid. We are talking about their income here. This is not a tax. It will not cost $75. Those statements are all part of the minister's disinformation. I find that sad.

I also find it sad that he is calling this a dumb idea, because it is supported by ACTRA, SOCAN, SODRAC, the Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec and the Guilde des musiciens, as well as ADISQ, the CPCC, Artisti and even the Union des consommateurs.

This is not dumb; it has been thought out, and this levy already exists in the current legislation. It applies to four-track cassettes and blank CDs, and now we are asking that the law be updated to include MP3 players such as iPods. It will obviously not be as catastrophic, scary or terrible as the minister is making it out to be. I want to thank him for engaging in this debate, by the way. It is not that at all. No one has said anything about $75, other than the minister.

(1820)

[Table of Contents]

Hon. James Moore:

Madam Speaker, I understand the concern raised by my hon. colleague, but the problem is that, frankly, she does not understand the technology.

[English]

Music in the future will not be listened to simply on MP3s. This is a band-aid solution, it is very shortsighted and it is about purchasing votes. It is nonsense.

What we need is a thoughtful approach to copyright reform that is in the best interest of creators and consumers. Has she ever heard of Rhapsody? Has she ever heard of the idea of streaming digital online music and what that means for creators and that universe? Does she understand that? That is the way the future is going.

It is not about MP3s. MP3s can be played, streamed, uploaded and synced into automobiles and onto planes. There are all sorts of uses of MP3 files. Music is happening in a digital way, in ways that are far beyond the scope of the amendments that the Bloc Québécois and the NDP have come up with. They, frankly, do not understand the technology and have no sense of understanding of where the technology is going with regard to consumers' interests and supporting a digital universe in the future.

Our copyright bill is balanced and effective for consumers and for creators. Again, we will vote against any new tax on consumers that is not necessary.

* * *

Pandora - you can't get there from here.

Pandora is an apparently terrific "legal" music service that we can't get in Canada - an all too familiar theme. For example, try this link to Pandora from inside Canada. You just can't get there from here.

Here's a CBC report on why Pandora thinks that Canadian royalty rates are too high to do business here. Not surprising - considering the multiplicity of tariffs and the Copyright Board's steadfast position of valuing each right separately, even though this may result in several substantial tariffs on the same transaction and an overall excessive rate.

Naturally, defending the Canadian position, are the heads of CRIA and Re:Sound. Is pricing yourself out of the market a good strategy? Self-inflicted wounds are not uncommon in the entertainment business - after all, the motion picture folks tried their best to ban the VCR. And the music industry came up with the not so brilliant idea of suing their most enthusiastic customers.

But excessive royalties that drive away legitimate services and drive users underground are bad for consumers and bad for musicians.

Time once again for Economics 100 and the lessons about price elasticity of demand?

HK

Bill C-32 and the Parliamentary Committee Process

The process of making legislation is often compared to the manufacture of sausage. It is probably better not to see how it gets made.

Copyright law is no exception. The committee process is the point where the final ingredients are added, and the recipe can change very quickly and unpredictably, for better or worse.

Hee's my analysis in the Wire Report of how how Bill C-32 may play out in a Parliamentary committee.

HK

The Wonder of Stevie @ WIPO

In what must have been a magical moment, the legendary blind musician Stevie Wonder today addressed the WIPO General Assembly on the need for a breakthrough for the blind and others whose access to copyrighted works is limited.

According to IP-Watch:

Wonder said he was launching today a “declaration of freedom for people with disabilities,” empowering them by “providing them with the tools to learn and grow.”

"I understand that the EU, the group of Brazil, Mexico and Paraguay, the US and the Africa[n] group have proposed different plans on how to address the cross border transfer of information,” for those who are visually impaired, Wonder said. “And there are issues on how to develop a protocol that has a binding effect, and at the same time respects the rights of all involved.” “

It can be done,” he said. “We have the greatest minds in the world right here in this room. Please work it out. Or I’ll have to write a song about what you didn’t do.” He added that if WIPO could accomplish an agreement by next year, he would come back and sing a celebratory concert at the 2011 General Assemblies.

He also performed and promised to the obvious delight of all a return engagement if WIPO delivers.

Here's Stevie Wonder:

According to IP-Watch, Wonder said:

"It is time to “declare a state of emergency and end the information deprivation that continues to keep the visually impaired in the dark,” he told assembled delegates."

He's right.

BTW, IP- Watch deserves great credit for covering this so well and needs your support. It is the best independent source of reliable information on international developments regarding IP law - particularly those centered in Geneva. Subscribe now.

HK

ACTA, “Ex Officio” Enforcement, and Parallel Imports

In the latest ACTA leaked text, it’s disappointing to see that Canada is endorsing the following proposal on “ex officio” border enforcement, This refers to the giving of power to border officials to detain suspect goods on their own initiative on the basis of suspected IP infringement, without the need of a prior court order.

Here’s the text that Canada supports (see draft Article 2.7):

[Aus/Can/Sing: 1. Each Party shall provide that its customs authorities may act upon their own initiative, to suspend the release of or detain suspected counterfeit trademark goods or suspected pirated copyright goods with respect to imported goods including suspected counterfeit trademark goods or suspected pirated copyright goods admitted to, withdrawn from, or located in free trade zones. Each Party may provide its customs authorities the same authority as the foregoing provision of this Article in respect of exported and in-transit goods that are suspected counterfeit trademark goods or suspected pirated copyright goods.]

This is very unwise for many reasons:

• A judgment call about whether a particular product is “legal” or not is very often far from clear. For example, running shoes or handbags may be made “illegally” on the same assembly lines as the “real” product “after hours” and be identical in all physical respects to the “real” product. How is the border official supposed to make the determination as to whether the goods are “legal” or not?

• In the case of parallel imports (which by definition are perfectly legitimate and neither fake nor counterfeit), the factual and legal issues are extremely complex. The US Supreme Court is about to hear a case about whether perfectly legitimate Omega watches with a small copyrighted logo engraved on the back can be imported into the US by Costco. Some of the smartest lawyers and judges in the USA are bitterly divided over how this case should turn out. In Canada, we had the Kraft case involving Toblerone chocolate bars, which resulted in a victory for the parallel importer and a complex judgment from a very divided Supreme Court of Canada (I was counsel for the Retail Council of Canada, whose intervener’s arguments prevailed in the result). There was, of course, immediate speculation about how to get around the judgment but the subsequent court cases of which I am aware have settled or, in the case in which I was involved, fizzled.

• If the best lawyers and judges have to struggle intellectually about whether perfectly legitimate parallel import goods can be legally imported, are we ready to allow border guards with no legal education, and with no prior judicial oversight to make this initial determination and potentially tie up millions of dollars worth of merchandise for great lengths of time, forcing the importer to go to court to get the goods released?

• Border officials will inevitably be “educated” and provided with information about suspect shipments by those who may have a vested interest in keeping out parallel imports and may even have an interest in causing serious inconvenience to a legitimate competitor.

• The recent wrongful seizure of generic aids medicine in the Netherlands was vivid proof that empowering border officials to make difficult IP decisions can lead to serious and even potentially fatal consequences.

• Somebody should pay for the economic losses resulting from wrongful seizures. Who will that be?

• What remedies will there be for abuse or misuse of the “ex officio” system by competitors?

• What if the result of a wrongful seizure of medicine results in harm to health and safety?

• The empowering of “ex officio” action is simply not necessary in Canada. Justice Roger Hughes of the Canadian Federal Court (who had decades of successful experience in IP enforcement before his elevation to the bench) eloquently made this point at the 2008 Fordham Conference. He said that those seeking such a change should “stop whining” and just “roll up their sleeves” in order to use the current system, . The current system of obtaining a court order works perfectly well, he said, if only IP owners would do the necessary paper work. He regularly signs these orders when the proper documentation is presented.

• There is no reliable evidence that Canada has serious problems with the importation or transshipment of counterfeit or pirated goods. Those who claim to have “evidence” of such problems are often those who are opposed to the pro-competitive effect of perfectly legitimate parallel imports.

• As the late Sir Hugh Laddie and others have repeatedly pointed out, one of the most convenient places in the world to easily buy cheap counterfeit goods is the streets of New York. There is no such flagrant activity on Canadian streets.

Nobody supports or defends fake counterfeit or pirated goods. By definition, parallel imports are neither of these - though they are and probably forever will be viewed as controversial by those who oppose real free trade and vigorous competition.

However, one does not need to set up a system that will predictably catch lots of dolphins in the net and do little to stop shark activity, of which there is much talk and little evidence in any case.

Once again, we need to question why Canada would push for a policy that will very likely harm Canadians by fixing something that isn’t broken and has long worked perfectly well.

HK

More Decisions from Judicial Review of Copyright Board Decisions

The Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) rendered two (or was it three? - see below) further decisions dated September 2, 2010 flowing from the now 14 or so year long proceedings involving SOCAN’s Tariff 22.

In the judicial review application brought by the major ISPs, the Court held that the delivery of files or streams of music from point to point one at a time on request via the internet is a “communication to the public” if there is an intention to communicate to the public. There can be communication even if it is only to a single user.

This is consistent with a decision from two years ago in the ringtones matter, though the arguments and facts were somewhat different. The ringtones case was hampered by the fact that the objectors had decided, for whatever reason, to concede before the Copyright Board that there was a “communication” involved. The Federal Court of Appeal heard argument on the issue notwithstanding the reversal of the objectors’ position - but upheld the Copyright Board. This recent challenge was an uphill battle to be sure, especially given the previous history of this issue.

This confirms that Canada, once again, provides stronger copyright protection than the USA in a way that costs Canadians money and for no obvious policy advantage. This takes the form of potential double payments or more for the same transaction (i.e. performance rights + communication rights + reproduction rights) in contrast to the USA, where the Courts have rejected such arguments in similar circumstances, but with different legislation. By far, the lion’s share - probably over 90% of the value of this extra protection - leaves Canada and goes to the USA.

This decision could also have an impact on file sharing. There is some obiter dicta at para. 59 that suggests that peer to peer file sharing is an activity where “there is clearly an intention to communicate to the public.”

Ironically, if this is the case, then Canada arguably does not need a “making available” right as such, at least in the case of musical works. However, it still may be open to argument on the part of an individual engaging in downloading in the P2P context that he/she had no intention to share by uploading and may be quite ignorant of the way in which particular software or protocols (e.g. Bittorent) work in this respect.

Of very great interest to lawyers and the Copyright Board will be the Court’s unusual statement that the Copyright Board is entitled to deference “with respect to its interpretation of the [Copyright] Act” and on “pure questions of law” (paragraph 25). This is the second time in just over a month that the FCA has dealt in a surprising and, with respect, arguably incorrect manner with the “standard of review” issue. See also Alberta v. Access Copyright (the K-12 fair dealing case), in which I acted for the intervener CAUT.

My friend Barry Sookman also finds the ruling on the standard of review to be a "surprising suggestion", though he didn't seem troubled by a similar conclusion in the Alberta v. Access Copyright decision noted above, in which he acted for interveners representing major publishers.

Previous jurisprudence from the FCA and the Supreme Court of Canada has been generally interpreted to mean that the Board must meet the standard of “correctness” on legal issues - not just “reasonableness” - especially where the legal question involving interpretation of the Act could potentially have implications in court proceedings that have nothing to do with the Copyright Board. This would clearly seem to be the case in this instance, since the communication right could arise in civil litigation. The Court in this instance found that the Board’s decision was “reasonable” - but stopped short of finding that it was “correct”. Often, a court will indicate its views on whether a decision meets both standards - for example, in this earlier decision from last May arising out of the same batch of judicial review applications.

Interestingly, the FCA just two years ago in the ringtones decision, which involved very similar issues, applied the correctness standard. Now, just when many thought the “the sempiternal question of the applicable standard of review” was reasonably resolved insofar as the Copyright Board is concerned, and the FCA itself has explicitly discouraged counsel from dwelling on it in oral argument, it now appears that the issue is once again wide open. It is important that this be resolved with respect to the Copyright Board, since so many of its decisions result in applications for judicial review, and many of which in turn have been successful when the “correctness” standard was applied by the Federal Court of Appeal.

Another interesting ruling was made in yet another part of the never ending Tariff 22 saga in the September 2 ruling. This concerned ESA’s argument that SOCAN had failed to provide “adequate evidence” to justify the fairness and reasonableness of the tariff in respect of video games. The Court held that “the collective administration regime depends on the certification of tariffs” and that “‘This system, which seeks to balance the rights of creators and users, cannot be hobbled by an overly rigid approach to the assessment of the basis upon which a tariff is certified.”

This appears to be at odds with a ruling by the same panel in the case on “other sites” which was heard together with the ESA case last May (in which I represented the Retail Council of Canada). In that decision, the Court stated at para. 26 that:

In my view, it would have been unreasonable for the Board to certify this impugned Item of the proposed Tariff 22 in the absence of the necessary probative evidence, on mere guesses, speculations and approximations, especially in view of the long retroactive period covered (1996 to 2006) and the fact that, as the Board found, it is only at the end of that period that social networking and video sharing sites became popular.

In this case, ESA had apparently itself suggested a base rate of .08%. There had been no such suggestion in the “other sites” case - but that may not be enough to resolve the apparent inconsistency in the approach by the Court.

The ESA decision also adopts the same conclusion about standard of review as was utilized in the communication to the public ruling.

Yet another curious aspect of these rulings is that CRIA’s application for judicial review, which was heard along with the others, was dismissed, but no reasons were provided.

It seems that we have just finished a summer of uncertainty in respect of several cases involving judicial review from the Copyright Board. Could there be yet other expeditions in store to the Supreme Court of Canada?

The next move towards the Supreme Court is up to CMEC - and we eagerly await its filing on or before September 29, 2010, unless, for some unexpected reason, it should decide not to seek leave. The K-12 fair dealing ruling from the Board as upheld by the FCA seems to be "fundamentally inconsistent", as I said here, with the SOCAN “previews” ruling from a few weeks earlier - and the two cases would make for a great pair for the SCC to consider. SOCAN has already filed its leave to appeal application arising from the FCA's “previews” ruling.

We’ll know within 60 days whether the September 2, 2010 rulings may also generate one or more leave to appeal applications, although the standard of review question could well be resolved in the fair dealing cases, should the Court decide to take them on. No doubt, there would also be several parties seeking leave to intervene in these cases.

HK

PS - there was some confusion about the date of the decisions. The correct date is September 2, 2010.
They were faxed out that evening and not received by me until September 3, 2010. Accordingly, I've
amended the above.

What does "educational" mean?

Many are rather nervous about the implications of including the word "education" in the proposed revision of the fair dealing provisions of Canada's Copyright Act. The big question, of course, is what does "education" mean?

The Federal Court has just rendered an intriguing decision that holds that a thesaurus is indeed an "educational text book" for purposes of Corrections Canada regulations. The fact that Roget's Thesaurus is not "required reading" for an inmate's National Sex Offender Maintenance Program or that it is available in the prison library does not take it out of the realm of being an "educational text book."

Corrections Canada had denied the inmate the right to buy the book because it ruled that the book would have put his allowable personal property limit over $1,500 - and was not considered to be exempt as an "educational text book."

Justice Sean Harrington's decision is delightful to read - quoting both Humpty Dumpty and Justice Scalia. And it is actually important to read this decision because it could be the the harbinger of what is to come in terms of debate about the "educational exception" and litigation should it be enacted without further clarification.

Interestingly, the Copyright Board ruled earlier in this year that providing copies of material that is prescribed or required reading cannot not be considered as fair dealing in the context of Access Copyright’s K-12 tariff. This was upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal. We will know by the end of the month whether CMEC will seek leave to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. In my opinion, it is essential that leave be sought in this instance and that there is a good chance that leave would be granted in this case, as I have said earlier. (I acted for the intervener CAUT in this case the judicial review).

BTW, congratulations to inmate Ken Mackay who represented himself and prevailed against two Department of Justice Lawyers. He was even awarded $200 in costs - which should help him to build up his library as he serves his life sentence.

HK

The "Education" Exception: Toronto Star Editorial of August 14, 2010 re "Copyright Bill Needs Change"

The Toronto Star had an uncharacteristically ill-informed and misguided editorial on August 14, 2010 about copyright entitled Copyright Bill Needs Changes on its otherwise usually solid editorial page. One can only wonder about where The Star got its information from this time. It said:

Writers and publishers are worried that a broad interpretation of “education” could lead to rampant copying of textbooks, instructional manuals and even novels. Would a school board be allowed to buy just one copy of a new textbook and copy it for all its students? Would universities be allowed to copy bits and pieces of 20 different books to compile reading material on a certain subject for their students? Indeed, would a monthly book club be considered an “educational” activity and be allowed to copy novels on its reading list?

It concluded:

Both government and opposition should rethink and take a hard look at the fair dealing section when Parliament resumes sitting in the fall and Bill C-32 goes to committee. Legislation intended to defend copyright ought not to be used to justify rampant copying.
(emphasis added)

There is absolutely nothing in the bill that would "justify rampant copying". Indeed, as the bill now stands, it would effectively prevent all kinds of legitimate copying through its repressive and regressive digital locks provisions and its inadequate fair dealing provisions that would leave Canadian educators, students and consumers still worse off in important ways than their American counterparts.

I wrote a letter to the editor on August 16, 2010 which hasn't yet been published. Nor have I seen any other letters about this editorial, though it's hard to imagine that there were none worthy of publication. Hopefully, The Star will get around to them. In the meantime, and in any event, my letter read as follows:

Dear Sirs:

Your editorial about copyright on August 14, 2010 is inaccurate, inflammatory and seriously misleading.

Nothing in Bill C-32 would allow a school board “to buy just one copy of a new textbook and copy it for all its students”. To suggest that a monthly book club “would be considered an “educational” activity and be allowed to copy novels on its reading list” is simply absurd. As for universities being “allowed to copy bits and pieces of 20 different books to compile reading material on a certain subject for their students”, the fact is that “coursepacks” are perfectly legitimate and have been used for decades. Universities are paying estimated license costs well in excess of $10 million a year for making them. Moreover, there are often unnecessary payments because rights have already been paid for, because the material was in the public domain or the Creative Commons, the excerpt was insubstantial, or the use was clearly fair dealing. Access Copyright, the English Canadian collective that has done so much to inhibit or charge for “access”, has been eagerly collecting this money. Indeed, it now wants to increase its charges to $45 per student per year based in large measure on rights it does not have and for repertoire in which it has no legal interest.

Copyright revision is already complex and controversial enough without this kind of ill-informed and misguided opinion. Next time, please check the facts before you take sides in such an important debate.

Howard Knopf

Barrister and Solicitor

Macera & Jarzyna LLP

Ottawa, Canada

HK

SOCAN "PREVIEWS" - A Preview of its Friday the 13th Leave Application?

Tomorrow, Friday the 13th of August, is the deadline as I calculate it for SOCAN to file its leave to appeal ("LTA") application to get this decision from the Federal Court of Appeal ("FCA") on iTune type "prveviews" heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The main issue in that case - and it's quite important - is whether the Federal Court of Appeal got it right when it said on May 14, 2010 in para. 22:

SOCAN argues that the primary purpose of previews is not research, but rather increased sales and, accordingly, increased profits. There is no doubt that, for the seller, this is an important objective, one which also benefits copyright holders through reproduction and performance rights. I agree. But this does not exclude other equally important purposes. We must consider previews from the point of view of the person for whom they are intended: the consumer of the subject-matter of the copyright. Their purpose is to assist the consumer in seeking and finding the desired musical work.

(emphasis added)

This decision was put before the same Federal Court of Appeal (different panel) by yours truly in the June 8, 2010 hearing of the Province of Alberta et al ("CMEC" ) v. Access Copyright K-12 decision, also on judicial review from the Copyright Board. I submitted to the FCA on behalf of the intervener CAUT that if the research purpose of a consumer of iTunes songs must be considered, then so should the research or private study or criticism purpose of students. The FCA did not accept this and didn't even refer in their July 23,2010 decision to the SOCAN decision from their colleagues on the FCA three weeks or so before the K-12 hearing.

Frankly, I think that there's a significant inconsistency here between these two decisions within less than three months of each other of different panels of the FCA .

There's also a significant irony that could play out in the next months. SOCAN's LTA application by itself may not be extremely compelling to the SCC. Only about one ten leave to appeal applications succeed. Here, we have a decision where the FCA upheld the Copyright Board and the result is not clearly wrong or unreasonable. Besides, the SCC has heard a lot of copyright cases in the last few years.

However, when different panels of the FCA come to apparently inconsistent conclusions within a few weeks of each other on an important issue arising from two cases from the Copyright Board, the situation may become much more interesting and even compelling to the SCC. This is especially so given the apparent resistance in certain influential quarters to the main messages of the 2004 CCH v. LSUC decision from the SCC.

Not only politics but the law can make strange bedfellows. In this instance, both SOCAN's and CMEC's attempts to get leave to appeal will very likely reinforce each other, assuming that they both seek leave.

SOCAN will file tomorrow, according to what I've heard.

I have no idea whether CMEC will seek leave, and it has until the end of September to do so. In my view, CMEC's decision merits a leave application on its own, and given the above, it would be very surprising if leave were not to be sought by CMEC, whose loss is presumably vastly more economically significant than that of SOCAN in this instance. But SOCAN's LTA application could only help CMEC's, and vice versa.

Given the apparent inconsistency of the FCA case law, not to mention the Coypright Board's own approach, and the vast amount of money at stake in Access Copyright's K-12, and current proposals affecting provincial govenments and post secondary institutions, there are some issues that would seem clearly to be of "public importance" and require resolution, clarification and finality that the Copyright Board and the collectives appearing before it can understand and will follow.

So - good luck in this case to SOCAN on its expected Friday the 13th LTA application.

HK

Access Copyright’s excessive $45 per university student proposed tariff - August 11, 2010 deadline

This is the first in more to come about the proposed $45 per university student tariff - a more than 1,300 % increase over the current basic charge. Access Copyright (“AC”),the proponent, is probably Canada’s fastest growing and least understood collective. It started out as a reprography collective right after the 1988 reform package was proclaimed. Its initial cash flow came conveniently from a lucrative multimillion dollar contact with the Federal Government. It has since managed, with little effective resistance, to convince Canadian provincial governments, school boards, colleges and universities to pay well over $30 million a year into its coffers. The only actual Copyright Board challenge to date that has gone to fruition resulted in a big loss for the K-12 school boards and the provinces ultimately behind them under the umbrella of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (“CMEC”). This loss was recently confirmed by the Federal Court of Appeal. More about this and whether this case will go to the Supreme Court of Canada below.

But reprography is becoming obsolete and AC has already decided to move on to “digital”. This ought to be interesting because, in addition to certain other potential serious problems, AC lacks digital rights from a lot of creators and publishers who have been understandably reluctant to involve third parties such as Access Copyright.

Here’s a good piece on AC’s problems in terms of future legislation and its attempted incursion into digital rights by Gary Rodrigues, a former Co-Chair of AC when it was known as CanCopy.

AC also wants to push back on the CCH v. LSUC decision from the Supreme Court of Canada. It has won a temporary partial but significant victory on this front in the Board’s K-12 decision and the recent Federal Court of Appeal decision upholding it. But that may not hold and AC has been understandably muted about its victory proclamations.

Now, AC wants to impose a $45 per head digital, etc. tariff on post secondary students at universities and $35 at colleges. The date for filing an objection is AUGUST 11, 2010. Lots of people and institutions may wish to object. How to do so is explained below.

$45 is not a misprint. Moreover, it’s more than 13 times the current base amount per student. The good news, as if anyone would possibly see it that way, is that it’s all inclusive and doesn’t require the intensely disliked $0.10 per page course pack fee. That’s not really much of a concession since the use of photocopied course packs is rapidly becoming obsolete, rather like blank CDs. The future lies in e-reserves and other legitimate uses of the new technology that could soon make Access Copyright itself obsolete if universities decide to exercise their technological and legal options.

The bad news is that this figure is exorbitant and AC is arguably not entitled to much if not most of this money. It is seeking to charge for all sorts of uses that are simply not covered by copyright law or which are or should be regarded as fair dealing according to the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark decision in the 2004 CCH v LSUC decision. AC also has serious “repertoire” and rights problems, discussed below. AC wants educators and students (i.e. taxpayers) to pay for much stuff and uses that are or should be free, if the law is properly understood and applied. And, as indicated above, AC may have a big gap in terms of digital rights in the very limited actual repertoire that it has in its system. I will, at a later date, blog about its other “repertoire” problems for those who have not read my analysis published about a decade ago.

There is no comparable tariff or other mechanism in the USA to the proposed digital tariff.

Incredibly, the tariff defines a “copy” to include “posting a link or hyperlink to Digital Copy”. So, that would presumably include any website with copyrighted material. For example, take this blog - please! AC apparently expects to be paid whenever a professor posts a link on his or her website to my blog, or Michael Geist’s blog or the Globe and Mail or eBay. That is simply absurd.

Merely linking does not create liability. If it did, the entire internet would grind to a halt instantly. The whole raison d’être of the world wide web is “linking.” Linking requires neither permission nor payment. The Copyright Board should not even consider the issue of “linking”, because it is not covered by copyright law. This issue is a non-starter and should be eliminated as soon as possible by the Copyright Board before a lot of time and money is wasted on it.

The same for “displaying” a copy on a computer. How, precisely, is one supposed to read anything otherwise? The concept of “display” does not occur in the Copyright Act, other than in connection with dry erase boards.

Of course, in the university context, much or most of the remaining uses will be for a purpose covered by fair dealing under the current s. 29 of the Copyright Act - i.e. research, private study, criticism or review.

Or, these uses will simply be permitted by virtue of an “implied license.” When someone posts a work on the internet without any technical barrier to printing, saving, emailing it, etc. there is very arguably an implied license to do those things (notwithstanding CMEC’s views to the contrary) and most if not all of the other things that AC purports to cover.

The Copyright Board has shown itself to be quite sympathetic to AC in the K-12 matter, which was the first AC file to actually result in a contested hearing at the Board. The Board more than doubled the previously negotiated rate, despite the Supreme Court of Canada’s CCH decision, which was not adequately considered by the parties or the Board - although there was more than sufficient time to do so. The hit on the school boards was enormous. As I blogged last summer:

There will be a whopping four year retroactive liability here of about $18 million a year starting in 2005-2006. That's about $72 million to date, of which about $40 million is additional to what was already presumably being paid at the old rate, allowing for a token discount of 10% to soften this blow. It'll be really interesting to see what AC does with all of this. Almost two of this four year period involved waiting for the Board to issue its decision after the hearing concluded. In fact, most of the hearing took place in June, 2007 with some follow up delayed until October of 2007 due to the illness of a key AC witness.

This at a time when school boards are desperate for money for far more useful and immediate purposes.

The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) has decided on July 23, 2010 a judicial review case involving this decision, in which I represented the Canadian Association of University Teachers (“CAUT”). Here’s CAUT's response to that decision.

All I will say at this point and, as is always the case here on this blog, in my own my own personal capacity, is that leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada should be sought by CMEC if for no other reason than this decision appears, in my view, to be fundamentally inconsistent with a decision of different panel of the FCA a few weeks earlier. In the May 14, 2010 SOCAN “Previews” case wherein it was held that the research purpose of the consumer of the user or consumer must be considered:

We must consider previews from the point of view of the person for whom they are intended: the consumer of the subject-matter of the copyright. Their purpose is to assist the consumer in seeking and finding the desired musical work.

Substitute “student” for “consumer” and the issue should be quite apparent. However, the Court in the K-12 decision did not even refer to the previews decision, concerning which ample submissions were made. There are also several other grounds for seeking leave to appeal - but I won’t deal with them here.

There can be no doubt that AC will use the Copyright Board’s K-12 decision and the recent FCA decision as spring board’s to achieve a good chunk of what is being sought in the proposed post-secondary tariff.

The proposed $45/year tariff would also require extremely onerous record keeping obligations on the part of the institutions, and privacy and operationally invasive rights to conduct surveys. Not to mention invasive audit rights concerning which CCRA (Canada’s tax collectors) would be envious. This would give a whole new level of irony to the term “Access”. Even professors’ emails must be recorded and reported.

There are about 1.5 million students registered in universities and colleges in Canada, most of whom are borrowing heavily to finance their careers and Canada’s future in scholarship and innovation.

AC wants to take $45 per year from each of university students and $35 for each of the college students per That’s about $60,000,000 a year for those who keep track of taxpayers’ money. That’s in addition to the retroactive windfall of tens of millions of dollars in addition to what had already been paid during the period b given to AC last year by the Copyright Board for K-12. That figure doesn’t include colleges. With actual and potential revenue figures like those above, it’s no wonder that AC can easily budget over $3.1 million for lawyer and other “professional fees” for 2010 as revealed at AC’s recent AGM. That goes a long way, even at the Copyright Board.

Think of all the advanced research chairs or library books that could be bought for these tens of millions of dollars. That might create real innovation.

There is no comparable regime in place in the USA to impose similar restrictions, bureaucracy, copyright chill and costs on the K-12 and post secondary educational systems. American law has codified such that most if not all of the copying activity in schools and on campuses is “fair”, including the use of multiple copies in the classroom. While the FCA clearly did not agree with this approach, hopefully the Supreme Court of Canada would do so if given the opportunity.

What should be done about the new proposed $45 p.a. annual “tax” on university students?

If this hearing follows the usual course, it will take several years to unfold, will cost several million dollars in legal fees, surveys, etc. and result in a fairly predictable amount of $23-$26 per year per student - more or less the average of the overreaching amount sought and the previous basic amount paid. Some of the more outrageous “rights” would be dropped as well. Both sides would claim victory.

However, that would hardly be a victory if the end amount should really be more like $2 per student - or maybe even much less - which is not unreasonable in a post CCH and mostly digital and networked world.

I understand that the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada AUCC has decided to fight the tariff at the Board. Others are expected to file objections and it is important that this be done in order to ensure that all possible arguments are made at the Board hearing stage and that the record before the Board is as adequate as possible. Part of the problem in the K-12 decision was that the record was inadequate. Even according to CMEC, which represented the K-12 school boards, the basic underlying survey should have been done “differently” in light of the CCH v. LSUC, which it did not fully take into account when the survey methodology was agreed to. While objectors other than AUCC may have limited direct input or control into the expected mega-survey, they should arguably be given an opportunity to comment on the adequacy of the proposed methodology.

People and institutions contemplating objection should understand that:

1. there are no “costs” consequences in terms of the other sides’ legal costs when filing an objection at the Copyright Board, even if one later withdraws.

2. The sometimes controversial “interrogatory” process at the Copyright Board can only be used to demand production of relevant information. And it works two ways.

Thus, a number of institutions, and even interested professors, students, librarians and other interested members of the post secondary community may wish to object. In the private copying cases, there were as many as 3,500 objections.

Canadian teachers, students, post secondary administrators and taxpayers should not want to unnecessarily pay tens of millions of dollars per year to exercise rights that they already have or do not need or don’t even exist, or that AC may not be entitled to enforce. Our educational system cannot afford such inefficiency.

Bill C-32, even if passes with the word “education” included in s. 29, will not necessarily solve any problems here. Given the Copyright Board’s rulings to date on what is “fair”, and the FCA’s reluctance to interfere, the legalisation needs more clarity - such as the “such as” wording we see in the USA and an explicit reference to “multiple copies.” Besides, waiting for Parliament to enact copyright legislation may be like Waiting for Godot. The educational community has been “waiting” for adequate exceptions since Flora MacDonald promised them in the “fall” - of 1988.

The Supreme Court of Canada may provide the necessary clarity in this situation as it did with the legal research issue. However, we must wait upon CMEC to see whether it will seek leave to appeal and whether such leave will be granted. There is a good chance here that leave would be granted, if sought, because the K-12 decision of the FCA seems inconsistent with the SOCAN previews decision of a few weeks earlier and rumours are strong that SOCAN will also seek leave. It would seem very important that this discrepancy be resolved. The Supreme Court of Canada sometimes likes to hear cases that come in contrasting “pairs”. In this case, the cases are from different panels of the same Court.

The Copyright Board seems to have an unstated “rocket docket” policy when it comes to AC. One can see this not only in the previous K-12 file but the currently unfolding attempt by AC to get $24 per FTE provincial government employee. Important decisions are likely to be made at an early stage, even while events are brewing in Parliament and the Courts that could and should provide game changing developments. Given AC’s very substantial revenues of well over $30 million a year even before the K-12 windfall, there would seem to be no need to move too quickly on the post-secondary file. That is why, in this case, additional voices may be needed to make these and other points.

How does one file an objection? It’s quite simple:

• Fax it or email it to:

GILLES MCDOUGALL

Acting Secretary General

56 Sparks Street, Suite 800

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0C9

613-952-8624 (telephone)

613-952-8630 (fax)

gilles.mcdougall@cb-cda.gc.ca (email)

• Indicate who you are and generally and why you are objecting - i.e. if you think that the amount sought is excessive and exorbitant, that AC is seeking to license rights it doesn’t have in respect of repertoire it doesn’t have, etc.

• You don’t need any detail. Details come much, much later. Anything much longer than one or two pages is longer than necessary at this stage. And details at this stage won't have any effect on the outcome. The objection is simply a necessary step to full participation.

• Provide your full contact information.

Note that the Board’s Model Directive on Procedure can be found here.

DO SO ON OR BEFORE AUGUST 11, 2010.

BTW, I should disclose that I am a member of AC and I do cash their little cheques each year, and hopefully redistribute the sum to good causes. However, I and many AC members - at least those in the academic and professional communities - would happily write what we write with or without this payment and would happily see this amount substantially reduced or eliminated if AC’s tariffs were to be substantially cut down to size for the benefit of the Canadian educational system, which is spending tens of millions of unnecessary dollars each year, not to mention the bureaucratic costs and the chill factors inside the educational system which are so significant that they are “priceless”.

The largest single creator beneficiary of AC’s mechanism has received about $7,000 per year, a figure which falls off very quickly, according to the 2007 Friedland report. So, whatever the purpose of AC may be, it is not doing a lot to keep individual writers writing. And that’s a very tiny fraction of the $3.1 budget for legal costs alone for 2010.

HK

PS - the above has provoked a huge and interesting discussion at Michael Geist's blog and at Techdirt.

Is the SAC proposed internet music "tax" a stalking horse for SOCAN?

(Above:Upper is Eric Schwartz/Bluepower.com & lower is Eric Baptise/SOCAN)

Eddie Schwartz is renewing his call for a "reasonable monthly licence fee" that would legalize the file sharing of music and "create a new business model that would be fair to consumers and creators alike". Here's his op-ed from July 30, 2010 in Straight.

He says that:

"The revenue received could be distributed to performers, songwriters, and rights-holders on a transparent, pro-rata basis by one of Canada’s respected music collectives, such as SOCAN." (emphasis added)

He is SOCAN's representative in Nashville, a fact which is also stated at the close of the Staight op-ed.

His proposal for a double negative option music "tax" (as it would inevitably be called) on internet users is itself not new. I've written about it before at some length just over a year ago here.

As I said then about the proposed monthly fee of about $5 or so:

This apparently modest fee - less than a pint of draft beer these days - would be added to their ISP bill. It would generate about $900 million a year in Canada, based upon SAC's admittedly “back of the envelope” calculations. (BTW, that’s about 4.5 times more than what SOCAN now collects - and it’s taken SOCAN and its predecessors more than 80 years to get to that level). Sure - SAC admits that $5 is just a figure for discussion purposes and they could cut back to $3 a month - a mere $600 million. Sometimes, you gotta walk before you can run.

It would likely quickly morph into a mandatory "tax", since it's hard to imagine the participation of a sufficient number of internet users and rights owners, even on a supposedly voluntary negative option basis, to enable this unprecedented scheme to begin to function. It would also be in addition to the much disliked "tax" on blank media. The current Government, to its credit, has explicitly resisted efforts to extend this blank media "tax" to iPods and other innovative devices, calling the idea "totally nonsensical". There was no ambiguity in Minister's Moore's famous tweet and Minister Clement's rapid response quoted here.

Eddie is an extremely articulate guy, a great communicator and has always seemed to choose his words carefully. He has been a Director of SOCAN and very influential in promoting the interests of pop songwriters in that organization and elsewhere. I wonder if he is now speaking for SOCAN, or at least acting as a stalking horse?

Earlier this year, SOCAN took the certainly unusual and probably unprecedented step for a Canadian collective of going outside of Canada for its next CEO. It chose Eric Baptiste from France, who has very impressive qualifications, including a 12 year career at the International Confederation of the Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), the World Federation of Copyright Societies with 225 member societies in 118 countries, where he had been Director General since 1999. Prior to joining CISAC, he had notable successes in the French broadcasting industry.

One can only assume that the very accomplished, upwardly mobile, and apparently still young M. Baptiste must have been offered a considerable inducement and very interesting challenge to move his career from Paris, France to suburban North York, Toronto, Ontario. On January 19, 2010, SOCAN issued a press release that included the following:

"I am delighted with the selection of Eric as my successor," says André LeBel, CEO, SOCAN. "He has all it takes to take SOCAN to the next level."
(emphasis added)

Could that “next level” be what Eddie is talking about?

HK

Exit Strategy for Digital Locks Dilemma of Canada's Bill C-32

(Harry Houdini in 1899 - Wikipedia)

Pressure mostly from the American entertainment industry and, as a result, the US government itself has got Canada locked into a very divisive battle over digital locks. While there was cause to hope that the "made worse in Canada" DMCA-like provisions of Bill C-61 might be more balanced in the next bill, Bill C-32 proved to be a big disappointment in this respect. This issue has once again threatened to block progress and passage of copyright reform in Canada. Now, two extremely important authorities in the US have provided the exit strategy and tools to enable Ministers Clement, Moore and the PMO to escape from the digital and political conundrum into which they were locked with time running out before a possibly sooner rather than later election.

The United States Copyright Office, which is part of the Library of Congress, is about as independent as a government organization gets to be in the Washington government structure. It has immense prestige, power, and influence in copyright matters - both domestically and internationally. Under its remarkably competent and balanced succession of Registers, currently Marybeth Peters (soon to retire) and her predecessors such as Ralph Oman (who was instrumental in bringing the US into Berne), David Ladd, and the late Barbara Ringer who was greatly influential in the monumental 1976 legislation, it has shown itself to be fair, erudite and devoted to consultation, consensus where possible, and research and evidence based rule making within its mandate. Officials whose sympathies were too pro-industry have tended to leave to pursue careers as lobbyists. Those who have stayed have done a great job overall and are a real credit to the legal and governance professions, as well as those who have appointed them. Nobody could possibly see the US Copyright Office as “radical extremist” or “copy-left” when it comes to copyright policy.

Here is the Copyright Office’s recent fair and balanced rulings on various DMCA related issues allowing exemptions for such practices as cell phone “jail breaking” (which goes way beyond simple unlocking) and copying of DVD excerpts, both of which would be illegal under Canada’s proposed Bill C-32.

The recent ruling also allows for circumvention of eBook digital locks when when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format. This was a close call, since the Register (with apparent reluctance) recommended against this exemption this time around on the basis of a lack of evidence presented by the proponents. Interestingly, the Librarian of Congress himself, James Billington, overruled her and continued the previous exemption granted in 2006.

Ironically, not only are the exemptions far more generous to users than what is proposed in Canada’s Bill C-32. The much disliked DMCA at least allows for exemptions based on fair use principles. Bill C-32 makes is absolutely clear that anti-circumvention protection for DRMs and TPMs trumps fair dealing in Canada.

While Bill C-32 does make provision for regulations that could be made to provide exemptions in some very limited circumstances, that is no answer to why Canada would start out with far harsher anti-consumer, anti-user and anti-innovation legislation that the USA now has. Michael Geist's Toronto Star column talks about this today.

Nor is the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has just upheld a district court ruling on DMCA circumvention that is far more generous to users than Bill C-32, an example of a “radical extremist” organization. Texas districts courts are not known for being very “user friendly” on IP matters.

Here’s the ruling that will upset pro-digital locks lobbyists no end. It confirms the legality, even under American DMCA law, of users’ rights in respect of anticirumvention behavior that would clearly be illegal under Canada’s proposed Bill C-32.

The ruling states:

However, MGE advocates too broad a definition of “access;” their interpretation would permit liability under § 1201(a) for accessing a work simply to view it or to use it within the purview of “fair use” permitted under the Copyright Act. Merely by passing a technological protection that restricts a user From viewing or using a work is insufficient to trigger the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision. The DMCA prohibits only forms of access that would violate or impinge on the protections that the Copyright Act otherwise affords copyright owners.

(emphasis added)

Despite this quite clear language and the fact the appeals court upheld the district court and the fact that General Electric (hardly an “enemy of copyright” or a “radical extremist” - it has filed 20,000 patent applications in the last decade) was the successful defendant/respondent, it should be noted that a well known Canadian lawyer who has been a lawyer and/or lobbyist for the Canadian trade associations that represent the American recording and motion picture industries has gone so far as to disagree with this ruling. Not surprisingly, he also criticizes Michael Geist’s perfectly reasonable, succinct and timely summary of it. It will be interesting to see what expert American expert scholars and lawyers who are not lobbyists have to say about this decision.

All of this should come as great news for embattled Government Ministers Clement and Moore. It shows that even the very prestigious, powerful and influential United States Copyright Office and the very important and usually very IP friendly Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals do not have the slightest concerns about such issues as spurious and misleading red herrings about international law and the 1996 WIPO treaties raised by certain lobbyists and some associated with them with respect to Bill C-32 in Canada. One can be quite confident that if such arguments had any weight, they would have been made in these US proceedings. The Copyright Office did consider the WIPO treaties and was clearly not distracted by them. If the WIPO treaties were raised in the 5th Circuit, the Court was clearly not the slightest bit impressed and doesn't even mention them.

These very important and virtually simultaneous American developments provide a great exit strategy for Ministers Moore and Clement on Bill C-32, which Minister Clement, the lead Minister on this Bill, has clearly already perceived.

As it happens, Minister Clement is also much embattled on the census front. Ironically, the arguably minimally intrusive privacy implications of the mandatory long form census pale in comparison to those of the Bill -32.

Bill C-32 will expose Canadians to massive commercially and quite possibly criminally motivated privacy invasion by protecting the invasion tools but preventing Canadians from easily and effectively protecting themselves from the countless ways in which the most intimate information about their reading, listening, browsing, book buying, hobbies, innermost thoughts, and other personal information can be harvested, sold or otherwise abused against their free and informed will. This is seriously a crucial privacy issue - and, with all respect, much more so than the number of bedrooms or bathrooms in ones’ house, which is readily available public information anyway.

Minister Clement (whose is the lead Minister on Bill C-32) has been the nice cop on the DMCA anticircumvention issue. It has fallen to Minister Moore who, for whatever reasons, has taken the unpopular side of the US entertainment industry, to defend that the air tight digital locks provisions. These provisions jeopardize the viability of the whole bill - even without the above developments.

Now both Ministers (particularly Minister Moore) and the doubtless interested PMO have a graceful and convenient exit strategy made available to them by fate, the US Copyright Office of the Library of Congress and the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

There is no reason why Canada would want to enact a law that is contrary to the interests of Canadian consumers, copyright users, educators, innovators and creators themselves for the benefit of the luddite faction American entertainment industry when US law itself has been authoritatively interpreted in a far more "large and liberal" user friendly manner than Bill C-32 would provide.

Now that Canada has been handed the keys to unlock itself from the digital locks dilemma, hopefully, we can at last get on with some serious, balanced and long overdue copyright reform that will operate in Canada’s interest and be fully consistent not only with international law but even international law as authoritative American sources see it.

Then, let's see who the real "radical extremists" will be who will oppose copyright reform. Access Copyright has already declared itself here and here and elsewhere for starters. The next in line will predictably be CRIA and CMPDA, and organizations that they have managed to influence up till now on the copyright front.

HK