Canadian Heritage committee  This is an intellectual property infringement and I would therefore suggest that it be enshrined in intellectual property legislation. Bill C-32 in its current form does not provide for this requirement. It is not easy to obtain from the Federal Court either since it is only poss

Canadian Heritage committee  The Federal Court has found liability for flea market vendor operators: people who rent premises to people who sell counterfeits have been found liable. It's the same principle.

Canadian Heritage committee  But the point is that the message you're sending out is that you're lowering damages. You're going from $20,000 to $5,000.

Canadian Heritage committee  Do it in any order you like, but just do it! It has dragged on for long enough. You have everything you need. You have recommendations from the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network, numerous other groups, practitioners like me and also from an institute of intellectual property.

Canadian Heritage committee  If you want to invite me back, it would be my pleasure to appear before you again. I gave a presentation on the issue to the ADISQ. Bill C-32 does not resolve the disparity between the Trademark Act and the Copyright Act. It will not tackle the lack of legal provisions to protec

Canadian Heritage committee  I am not urging you to sign ACTA as quickly as possible. I am asking you to consider and correct the shortcomings of our own anti-counterfeit system. This will bring us into compliance with ACTA standards. You should not lose sight of the fact that ACTA is really a group of cou

Canadian Heritage committee  No, I am not asking you to hurry up and sign ACTA and I do not wish my testimony to be interpreted in this way. ACTA requires Internet providers to disclose the identity of the counterfeiter. This is very relevant in Canada because of the Federal Court of Appeal ruling in BMG C

Canadian Heritage committee  First of all, on C-32, my overall comment is that ACTA aims to “responsibilize” various people, including Internet service providers, and to provide remedies against anti-circumvention devices. When one reads Bill C-32, one gets the impression that the aim is to “de-responsibiliz

Canadian Heritage committee  Who's in charge of ACTA? There will be an ACTA committee, which is provided for in chapter 5 of ACTA. Now, will it have the pouvoir contraignant? I don't know. Honestly, I don't think so. It's a general demonstration of an intention on the part of developed countries to do someth

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, that leads to another problem. Canada, contrary to most other developed countries, does not have a system of recordal of rights at the border. So when you want to sensitize customs to your rights, what you have to do is make sure that your sales representatives make friends

Canadian Heritage committee  In terms of what other countries are saying about us, I had informal discussions with people who are obviously much more open. However, in the public sphere you have the U.S. trade representative's special watch list, where we've been high up there with China, Algeria, Pakistan,

Canadian Heritage committee  My recommendations, in short.... In Canada right now we've got a problem, in that if you go under the Copyright Act, you can have statutory damages. Statutory damages, for those of you who don't know, are damages for which you do not need to prove your actual loss. This is very i

Canadian Heritage committee  I find it somewhat disheartening that you're surprised, and I don't mean to say this aggressively, because I'm sure you're not the only one who is surprised, both in this room and outside this room. The work the anti-counterfeiting community has been doing for at least the last

Canadian Heritage committee  In my handout, you can see my observations on the weaknesses of the Canadian system, which are on the left, and my recommendations, which are on the right. In the middle I've added a column on the relevant provisions of ACTA. Now please note--and I know there's a lot of discuss

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm the ACTA spokesperson. I addressed those questions in my opening statement, so perhaps if we could direct the questions on the EU agreement...and then when my turn comes, I'll answer those questions.