Canada has often been accused of being lax when it comes to dealing with copyright issues or enacting effective anti-piracy enforcement policies. The US and the EU have often voiced their concerns on this to Canada on several occasions, prompting Canadian authorities to shore up their acts on this. For instance, it is now possible for rightsholders to get injunctions to block pirate sites at Federal Courts. Unfortunately, as TorrentFreak reported, not everyone seemed satisfied with this.
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), representing groups like the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the Association of American Publishers (AAP), highlighted these issues in a submission to the USTR as part of the ‘Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity’ (APEP) review.
IIPA has identified a range of piracy threats in its submission, which includes stream-rippers, pirate streaming sites, pirate IPTV services, download portals offering pirated content, and the sale of pirate devices and apps. Although Canada has taken some steps in this regard which includes the ability to block contentious sites, IIPA said there is a lot more that needs to be done.
“The country has made some progress in shedding its reputation as an online piracy haven, but too many Canadian Internet businesses allow their services to be abused by pirate operators, highlighting the fact that interindustry cooperation must be a priority.
“The Canadian government at all levels continues to allocate insufficient resources and strategic priority to the enforcement of copyright laws, especially online,” IIPA adds.
Among the things the IIPA has recommended to the Canadian authorities include adopting strict measures for combating online piracy on a priority basis. It also recommended providing the requisite training and other resources to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Crown Prosecutors, and local law enforcement agencies for them to carry out ani-piracy operations effectively.
Apart from this, the IIPA has also proposed revisiting certain fair-dealing exceptions in the copyright laws that apply to educational education. Specifically, the IIPA proposed the scrapping of Bills C-244 and C-294 which it said provides the public enough leeway to get around technological protection measures.
It now remains to be seen if the USTR is going to adopt any of these suggestions. That said, what is clear is that there has been growing concern over the manner copyright issues are being dealt with in Canada.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I’ll likely make a film sometime in the future.
