U.S. film rep urges Canadian audience to adopt strong copyright protections

A representative of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) warned Canadian copyright experts and decision-makers last week that failure to control the explosion of file-sharing will lead to a "collapse of culture." On June 3 in Ottawa, a group of 80 stakeholders in the copyright reform process were told by MPAA executive VP for government relations Fritz Attaway that several technological measures need to be put in place to discourage copyright violation, and encouraged Canadian legislators to reexamine our private copying regime, which is seen by some as being diametrically opposed to copyright protection of works. Attaway’s comments were generally well received by an audience made up largely of representatives from copyright holding groups and federal bureaucrats. His speech also laid the groundwork for two panel discussions that became, at times, fiery as the deep divisions that exist even within the copyright industry’s ranks came to the fore. In his speech, Attaway came out swinging from the start in favour of strong copyright protection. While Canadian courts have recently begun the process of redefining the relationship of users to copyright holders, Attaway eschewed the term "balance" that has been popping up frequently in judicial and quasi-judicial rulings here. "Too often the word balance in the context of copyright suggests that there is antagonism (between user and rightsholder)," he began. "Copyright serves the public interest in satisfying demand for material which is publicly available," he asserted. He stressed that weak copyright laws that deter companies from distributing material work against the public interest since content that might be made available to consumers won’t be. He railed against file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, saying, "some say it is Nirvana to consumers. I say it’s an anathema to public interests." Attaway said strong digital rights management technologies must be developed to protect content of all types, and that systems that can be used for hacking must be outlawed, even if such laws are decried as repressive. "Freedom is an important concept to an individual," he said, "but it’s a terrible concept when applied to an entire society." He urged Canada to ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), with anti-circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) in place. "No TPM is going to be perfect," he told the receptive audience, "but it doesn’t have to be. Piracy has always been with us, but it has been kept manageable." The market, he said, will adopt TPMs on its own without mandating their use, he said, except in two instances. He urged governments to mandate digital broadcast flags that would protect television content, as well as to find and mandate a technical solution to the "analog hole" - the vulnerability digital material has to be copied in analog form and re-digitized for distribution. Attaway also urged Canada to drop its private copying regime, which is now interpreted to mean that people can download music tracks from file-sharing applications in return for paying a levy on blank recording media. He said the regime is inefficient, comes with a high built-in overhead, and denies consumers the choice to pay or not. The MPAA rep’s comments set the stage for two discussion panels that largely saw agreement by participants that strong copyright protection is necessary to drive a strong content industry. The afternoon took a turn for the dramatic when Canadian Cable Television Association acting president Michael Hennessy attacked a recent proposal by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to make ISPs liable for copyright infringement unless they adhere to a system of quick takedown of infringing material stored on their servers. Hennessy told the audience he’s "fundamentally very angry these days," over the treatment of ISPs when it comes to copyright protection. He noted that cablecos met with a cool reception from members of Parliament on slowing down WIPO treaty implementation and protecting ISPs from copyright liability, while many of the same MPs are at the same time rethinking Bill C-2 to weaken laws against the grey and black satellite markets. "I’m pissed off because this is a $6-billion investment…Sometimes I don’t think the government gets it," he said. In contrast to other speakers, Hennessy spoke strongly in favour of users rights, urging the audience to consider strong fair dealing protections and a rational rights clearance system. He noted that rights are important to content creation, which is behind the CCTA’s fight against satellite TV piracy. But, he noted those rights have never been absolute, and he questioned the government’s wisdom in pushing for measures such as ISP liability. " frightening in the extreme. You have to wonder who was offering that committee policy advice." He expressed his hope that the market would sort out many of the content distribution problems, "because I don’t think the government is going to get it right." He left the audience with two principles he said should be paramount. "Creators will always create," he said. "It’s in their nature. And, someone will always figure out the business model."

U.S. film rep urges Canadian audience to adopt strong copyright protections

News | 06/09/2004 4:00 am EDT

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