Canadian porn company Wild Rose Productions Inc. is reserving judgement on the usefulness of a new California Central District Court ruling against massive copyright infringement, but says intellectual property protection is crucial to adult content businesses here and elsewhere. Wild Rose in-house counsel Neil Oberman tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the company’s only real asset is its intellectual property, something it is constantly and vigorously fighting to guard. Choosing which violators to pursue, however, is always a business decision and no company has the resources to fight every infringer, he says.
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Internet and copyright law experts are divided on the effects of the recent Théberge v. Galerie d’Art du Petit Champlain Inc. decision by the Supreme Court of Canada on the digital copyright reform process now underway. While several prominent lawyers and creators are worried the decision will push legislators to draft copyright rules that favour users over creators, some observers say the court’s ruling can only be interpreted very narrowly, and is pertinent only to a particular set of circumstances unlikely to have much impact on broader digital issues.
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G8 Summit officials are defending their decision not to offer financial compensation for a web site and CD-ROM worth roughly $45,000, citing the international showcase opportunity for the company chosen to develop the online gallery. While the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) official in charge of the project makes no apologies for asking new media companies to work for free on the site, industry watchers are questioning whether the final result will meet quality standards suitable to showcase the best and brightest of the Canadian industry.
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