Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members.
Although our submission goes into a number of issues that I'm happy to take questions on, I want to focus on two that actually have something of a common theme: the best use of judicial resources, or judges, with respect to copyright law. In the two areas I want to highlight, we have created an unnecessary and burdensome use of the court system, in which court applications are required. We question whether there is something short of court applications that would apply, or that would work in many cases.
The first area, which you haven't heard a lot about, despite the number of witnesses Mr. Azzaria noted, is anti-counterfeiting and imports. You haven't heard a lot on that area.
Currently, where a brand or copyright owner has registered with the Canada Border Services Agency and an uncontested counterfeit is discovered at the time of import at the border, an importer can simply fail to respond, be hard to reach or be non-responsive in their response for a short 10-day period. That's the limit on how long the Canada Border Services Agency will hold goods without a court application. If a court application is not filed by the end of the 10 days, the goods are released to the importer.
The CBA section is proposing that for uncontested counterfeits—we're not talking about a legitimate claim about whether the goods are proper—when we have an affidavit or statutory declaration from the brand owner or the copyright owner, the goods could be destroyed or seized without the need for imposing an additional burden on the courts, and without the need for a court order.
You have heard a lot about the second area that I want to talk about. This is notice and notice.
The Internet is borderless, and our laws are not. Our current system, even with very recent amendments and proposed amendments, only allows us to deal with copyright infringement online when three things exist. Number one, the alleged infringer is in Canada. Number two, the alleged infringer can be identified, so they're not falsifying, masking or spoofing their ID or their IP address, which is pretty common when we're in this type of area. Number three, the rights holder actually files a claim. That's our system in Canada. Once again, we're taking up court time and resources.
The reality is that most infringers are not located here in Canada and they'll ignore a notice provided by an intermediary. Notice and notice ignores the borderless nature of the Internet. If we're going to absolve intermediaries of liability in Canada for infringement claims, the least we can do is adopt a notice-and-takedown system, which allows rights holders a greater ability to protect their copyrighted works and recognizes the issues posed by a global Internet.
Let me give you an example. Let's say that someone goes online to my law firm website and takes my picture. They set up an account on, say, the Toronto Maple Leafs fan site. I'm an Oilers fan, so if you put me on the Leafs website, that's not necessarily appropriate. Then they talk about how much I appreciate the Leafs, with my picture attached.
My recourse as a rights holder is to file a notice with the intermediary, with that website, which they would pass on. I get a limited amount of information back, which I may be able to use to file a claim, if I have identifiable information. The claim is useful only if the person who set up that false account is in Canada, can be identified and has not masked or concealed their true identity. Meanwhile, everyone thinks I've become a Leafs fan.
I use this example somewhat jokingly, but what if we change the facts to associate me, or anybody whose picture is available online, with organized crime or something a lot more problematic than the Toronto Maple Leafs fan site? We have the same enforcement struggles.
By continuing to use notice and notice, we in Canada fail to recognize the global nature of the Internet and its users.
Those are my introductory remarks, and I look forward to any questions you might have on that or any other issues raised by the CBA.