CNM Short Takes

NMBA says meetings on tap to fix new media tax creditIan Kelso, president of the New Media Business Alliance, tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that Ontario’s Ministry of Culture has promised the group meetings to discuss problems with the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit. The province’s budget in May contained no provisions for fixing the credit, which has long been criticized as poorly designed and of little use to most companies creating new media product in Ontario. CNM will have details if and when they become available (CNM Update, May 20/04). SNAP signs contracts, opens new production divisionSNAP Media has signed two new contracts to develop youth-oriented web sites. The first, a site for West 49, will integrate the store’s event-driven marketing approach. A second contract is with Alliance Atlantis to develop a Flash site for the broadcaster’s new animated show, Dragon Booster. The site will be launched in time for the series premiere later this year. The site is geared for both North American and international markets, and will be promoted as a trading card game and a console-based video game. In other SNAP news, the company has launched a new production division for the creation of its own intellectual property. The division will first work on three products that have already been made public: Monster Federation, Slick Silly and the Big Trucks, and The Race to Mars. ecentricarts wins WebbyToronto-based ecentricarts inc. has won a 2004 Webby award for its work on the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care site, www.healthyontario.com. The site was launched in October 2002, and contains a mix of articles, a drugs and conditions database, interactive tools and community resources. The award was in the best government and law web site category. 24/7 wins ICQ sales rep contract24/7 Canada Inc. has inked an exclusive web advertising representation agreement with ICQ Inc., an America Online Inc. subsidiary. The deal, which was effective June 8, sees 24/7 Canada’s sales force as the sole reps selling advertisements on the ICQ messaging application. The company will be using its Open AdStream serving technology to bring the ads to eyeballs. Court finds Internet libel should carry harsher penaltiesIn the case of Barrick Gold Corp. v. Jorge Lopehandia and Chile Mineral Fields Canada Ltd., an Ontario Court of Appeal judge has ruled that libel and defamation on the Internet are of a different nature than other forms, and should carry harsher penalties. Lopehandia was found to have made defamatory statements on the Internet about Barrick by a lower court, but had only a $15,000 damages judgment awarded against him. The lower court judge found that Lopehandia’s statements online "come across as a diatribe or rant." In the appeal decision, Robert Blair wrote for the majority that he finds a strong case for awarding higher damages in cases of "cyber-libel." Weighing the need for "free-wheeling discourse" online against the need to protect the reputation of individuals, Blair writes: "It is true that in the modern era defamatory material may be communicated broadly and rapidly via other media as well...Nevertheless, Internet defamation is distinguished from its less pervasive cousins in terms of its potential to damage the reputation of individuals and corporations...especially (by) its interactive nature, its potential for being taken at face value, and its absolute and immediate worldwide ubuquity and accessibility. The mode and extent of publication is therefore a particularly significant consideration in assessing damages in Internet defamation cases." As a result, the court ordered damages be upped to $75,000 in general damages and $50,000 in punitive damages, as well as an injunction against further postings against Barrick. David Doherty wrote the dissent in the 2-1 decision. He writes that a reasonable reader of Lopehandia’s statements online would be unlikely to take the statements seriously as a finding of fact, as the lower court ruled. Absent any error, he writes, it is not up to the appeal court to overturn the amount of damages. "Put bluntly," Doherty writes, "where the libelous statements are not likely to be taken seriously by any reasonable person, $15,000.00 is ample to vindicate a company’s business reputation." Doherty does not, however, discount his colleague’s interpretation of the potential for greater damage in online statements. He writes: "As to the nature of the statements, my colleague notes the stylistic difference between Internet dialogue and statements in more traditional media. I am happy to take his word for this." Gateway Fund launched to aid aboriginal and minority groupsCanadian Heritage, under the auspices of the Canadian Culture Online Program, has launched a new fund to create Internet content for minority and aboriginal groups. The up-to-$750,000 Gateway Fund is inviting proposals to showcase contemporary cultural expression about ethnocultural and aboriginal groups. The maximum contribution to any single project accepted by the fund will be $50,000, and the content must be available for free. An unnamed assessment committee, "made up of experts in new technologies and from the cultural sector," will evaluate submissions. Submissions to the fund must be mailed no later than June 28 for projects to be funded in fiscal year 2004/05. CATA releases 2004 election document with tech in mindCATA Alliance, a lobby group for Canadian technology companies, has unveiled its wish-list of measures for whichever party forms the next government. The measures focus on ways to stimulate commercialization, and include: immediate abolishment of the corporate capital tax; reducing government spending to reduce personal income taxes; using information technology tools to improve health care; eliminating grinds against scientific research and experimental (SR&ED) tax credits; using government procurement to bolster small businesses, possibly by creating a similar agency to the U.S. Small Business Administration; procuring Canadian security products for "homeland security"; continuing strong support for education; and, lobbying U.S. politicians against protectionist measures in the context of outsourcing. "While the growth of the high-tech industry slowed after the bursting of the dot.com bubble, particularly on the hardware side," CATA writes, "growth in the global market for information and communications technology has resumed. There are enormous opportunities for the Canadian high tech industry. Our members will not be able to seize all those opportunities if they are handicapped by government policies which do not support them." Camp TELETOON offers online games to entertain kidsTeletoon is dubbing its block of weekday morning kids shows Camp TELETOON from June 28 - August 20. As a tie-in to the branding, kids will have the chance to use a camp-themed "password" at www.teletoon.com to play a new game every week. Kid viewers can also register on the site to win one of four prize packs offered by Teletoon. Dominion’s Youth Text project sees SMS chat with fed hopefulsThe Dominion Institute’s Youth Text project garnered 2,200 messages to the heads of the four national federal parties on June 4 when the NGO held a live chat. The event was held as part of the institute’s attempt, in partnership with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association to encourage young people to vote in the upcoming election (CNM, April 30/04 ). It’s hoped the election-specific initiative will lead to giving short codes to all of Canada’s elected MPs to facilitate youth participation in the government. Participants who send a message during the election to the politicians are eligible to win a Nokia handset for each day of the campaign. Executive director of the Dominion Institute Rudyard Griffiths tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the reward program is a direct result of Nokia’s recent shift to a grassroots approach to selling youth on wireless phones. For a more complete story on Nokia’s latest campaigns in Canada, please see CNM affiliate publication Report on Wireless, May 4/04. Rogers launches HD personal video recorderRogers Cable Inc. announced June 1 that it is offering its first high-definition (HD) personal video recorder (PVR). The Motorola DCT6208 will be available to Rogers’ customers in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Ontario. The device can be rented for $19.95 a month or bought for $699. There is also a monthly service fee of $1.99. MSN/Sympatico site launchesAs this issue of CNM goes to press, the long-awaited Sympatico.MSN.ca site has launched. CNM will have further details about the initiative in its next issue of the newsletter.

CNM Short Takes

Broadcast | June 9, 2004

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