If they agree to come and have a beer with me, we can discuss a lot of things.
We were recently contacted by representatives of the Coalition québécoise des fournisseurs d'accès Internet. They shared their concerns with us about certain provisions of the Copyright Ac. They're concerned about statutory damages, including the interpretation of statutory damages.
In Canada, Internet service providers aren't responsible for online copyright infringement committed by their subscribers. However, providers have a number of obligations when they receive a complaint from a copyright owner alleging copyright infringement by a subscriber. They include providing notice to the alleged infringer and confirming to the copyright owner whether or not notice can be provided.
If the provider does not meet the obligations, the copyright owner can seek damages, and the damages can be fairly significant. It can vary from $5,000 to $10,000. However, a number of copyright owners hav taken advantage f the ambiguity in the act—we know this—and believe that they are entitled to damages each time a subscriber infringes on a copyright. That's a completely different thing, after all. It's not about seeking damages for each instance of copyright infringement, regardless of the number of times it takes place. Otherwise, providers could be liable to pay several hundred million dollars in damages.
We know that the department involve is discussing this with your office. What's your position? When can we expect an answer? As you can see, here I am once again being a great negotiator.