U.S. Copyright Groups Urge Canada to Prioritize Anti-Piracy Enforcement

The IIPA, which represents the MPA, RIAA, and other entertainment industry groups, believes that Canada could and should do more to tackle online piracy. The association argues that anti-piracy efforts, in the broadest sense, should be prioritized. In addition, copyright exceptions that, by IIPA's standards, grant the public too much freedom, should be scrapped.

The Canadian Government is no stranger to having its copyright policies critiqued.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), for example, has repeatedly placed its northern neighbor on a “watch list” because it fails to properly deter piracy, and then the EU followed suit.

To tackle copyright concerns, Canada has made several changes to its laws in recent years. Rightsholders can also obtain pirate site blocking injunctions at Federal Court but despite these developments, many rightsholders remain dissatisfied.

U.S. Copyright Groups Call Out Canada

This week, the IIPA put a spotlight on these alleged shortcomings in a submission to the USTR. The alliance, which is made up of various industry groups including the MPA, RIAA, and AAP, submitted its remarks as part of the ‘Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity’ (APEP) review.

This U.S. Government-enabled process allows third parties to share their concerns about the participating countries, which include Chile, Mexico, Peru and other American countries, such as Canada.

“APEP represents a critical opportunity to improve copyright protection and enforcement in the region, which would support APEP’s mission by strengthening regional competitiveness and integration and fostering shared prosperity and good governance,” IIPA writes

The list of issues highlighted by IIPA is long so for the purpose of this article, our focus is on Canada. According to IIPA’s submission, rampant piracy in Canada is a roadblock that prevents legal entertainment services from reaching their full potential in the country.

“Canada’s legitimate digital marketplace for copyright materials remains hampered by widespread infringement,” IIPA notes.

The association mentions a wide variety of piracy threats including stream-rippers, pirate streaming sites, pirate IPTV services, download portals, resellers of pirate services, devices, and apps, among others.

Online Piracy Haven

These types of comments are not new. In recent years, lawmakers have updated portions of the law to strengthen protection, but Canada does not blindly accept all suggestions. For example, it previously pushed back at such complaints, describing them as “flawed” and “one-sided”.

As a result, Canada remains on the USTR’s copyright protection “watch list” and IIPA still sees plenty of room for further improvement.

IIPA is pleased with Canada’s site blocking progress but the remaining list of “urgent and longstanding problems” shows that not all demands have been met. The U.S. rightsholders signal weak enforcement and a lack of legal incentives to combat piracy among the key issues.

“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.

Copyright Industry Wishlist

The list of reported problems is long. Luckily, however, IIPA has made a bullet point overview of the key action points for Canada’s Government; this starts with prioritizing anti-piracy enforcement.

“Prioritize enforcement against online piracy (including stream ripping), the operation and sale of subscription piracy services, and the trafficking in [piracy devices], apps, and circumvention software tools and modification services,” the first bullet point reads.

This increase in enforcement will require additional law enforcement resources and training which, ideally, should be readily available to properly combat piracy.

“Provide the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Crown Prosecutors, and local law enforcement with the resources and training required to implement enforcement priorities,” IIPA suggests.

In addition to going after infringing sites, services, and apps, third-party intermediaries should also be ‘incentivized’ to take action. While it’s not spelled out, this hints at potential liability for online service providers, if they don’t cooperate voluntarily.

“Counter online piracy in Canada by strengthening legal incentives for Internet service providers (ISPs), hosting providers, and all other intermediaries to cooperate with copyright owners, in accordance with international best practices,” IIPA writes.

Part of the wish list
 

The overview above shows that the suggestions don’t stop at fighting pirate sites and services directly.

IIPA would also like to get rid of the fair-dealing copyright exception for educational institutions. Moreover, Bills C-244 and C-294, which give the public more freedom to circumvention of a technological protection measures, should be rejected.

Whether the U.S. Trade Representative will pick up any of these suggestions has yet to be seen. That said, rightsholders are sending a clear signal that they are not pleased with Canada’s approach to its copyright challenges.

More Countries, More Concerns

IIPA’s concerns don’t stop at the northern border. Southward, there is room for other APEP countries to update their laws and heighten local anti-piracy priorities.

For example, Mexico is encouraged to develop and adopt a high-level national anti-piracy program, that will help to target large online piracy operations in the country. Colombia, meanwhile, should implement a specialized copyright enforcement training program for judges and law enforcement.

In Chile, where lawmakers are working on an overhaul of the constitution, IIPA suggests that strong copyright protection and enforcement should be a priority. At the same time, Chile should make it possible for ISPs to be held liable for copyright infringement.

“Improve and update Chile’s legal framework for ISP liability and online copyright enforcement significantly to foster the development of a healthy digital marketplace,” the rightsholders write.

A full overview of IIPA’s comments and suggestions, submitted as part of the USTR’s ‘Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity’ efforts, is available here (pdf).

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