Possible subtitle: “The Demand for Mandatory Public Patronage of Canadian Cultural Industries” [N.B. This essay was written on 30 August 2009, in response to viewing the entire Toronto town hall meeting as part of this summer's copyright consultation that solicited views from across the country, ostensibly to feed into forthcoming copyright law. I hope to [...]

Just saw this article pop up on the BBC World news: Bands set for longer music rights. A little bit more research turns up this from the Times (London) and this from the Intl. Herald Tribune. It looks as though the EU, ten years later, may be headed towards legislation similar to the United States’ [...]

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) released a report yesterday that placed Canada on the same “Priority Watch List” as China and Russia for “…the serious piracy problem [Canada] has allowed to develop just across our border….” It was big enough news to make it on CBC News. At issue is the lack of implementation [...]

My op-ed on fair copyright made it into this week’s Manitoban, the University of Manitoba student newspaper. It should be in campus newsstands tomorrow. A direct link will be added when available; in the mean time, Check out the article on the The Manitoban Online, or read on: FIGHT FOR YOUR (COPY)RIGHT | Protecting Canadians [...]

Six members of the Winnipeg/MB chapter of Fair Copyright for Canada met on Saturday for a solid session of discussing the various aspects of copyright law in Canada, and brainstorming how we want to take action locally. Stay tuned for the activities and efforts that will come out of the ideas developed at this meeting. [...]

Back in December I wrote my MP about the proposed amendments to the copyright act. Here is her response: Friday, January 4, 2008 Dear Mr. Woodrow: As your Member of Parliament, I want to thank you for your correspondence sharing your concerns about the forthcoming copyright reform bill highlighted in the 2007 Speech from the [...]

Below is my letter to Joy Smith, M.P. for Kildonan-St. Paul, regarding the forthcoming copyright bill. It will be going in the mail tomorrow. I borrowed some elements from here and here. Please feel free to use any or all parts of the letter to write your own letter to your MP. ## ADDRESS ## [...]

Michael Geist reports that the new Tory copyright bill mentioned in the throne speech will be tabled in the coming weeks. Given the tone of its mention in the throne speech, as well as the pressure from various content lobbies and the US government (“Blame Canada!”), it’s quite possible that this new legislation will bear [...]