Beyond ACTA: Proposed EU - Canada Trade Agreement Intellectual Property Chapter

[p2p rules]

Canada's participation in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations has understandably generated enormous public concern as leaked documents indicate that ACTA would have a dramatic impact on Canadian copyright law.  The U.S. has proposed provisions that would mandate a DMCA-style implementation for the WIPO Internet treaties and encourage the adoption of a three-strikes and you're out system to cut off access where there are repeated allegations of infringement.

Yet it would appear that ACTA is actually only part of the story.  Canada is also currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union.  The negotiations have been largely off the radar screen (and similarly secretive) with the first round of talks concluding in October in Ottawa. Intellectual property figures prominently in the agreement.  In fact, the EU proposal for the IP chapter has just leaked online and the document is incredibly troubling.  When combined with ACTA, the two agreements would render Canadian copyright law virtually unrecognizable as Canada would be required to undertake a significant rewrite of its law.  The notion of a "made-in-Canada" approach - already under threat from ACTA - would be lost entirely, replaced by a made-in-Washington-and-Brussels law.

michaelgeist.ca

[Trestor]

I'm sure that all these oppressive techniques the robber baron labels are, and have been, introducing is supposed to make us all flock to the shops and buy their products, to their exclusive benefit. Their methods have the reverse effect in my case, for I'm not so dependent on movies and music that I can't bear to live; I am less and less inclined to buy anything the cartel produce as time goes on. If entertainment is too expensive, or they make the product too unpleasant to use (like DRM), I hope that there will be a mass reaction against what the labels offer and that they all get sucked down the plughole of financial impecuniousness.