Ontario business group calls on Clement for notice-and-takedown

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has sent a letter to Industry Minister Tony Clement in support of the government’s copyright reform Bill C-32—but suggested a more stringent approach to ISP liability. The chamber said it supports the bill's strict approach to legal protection for digital locks. “Bill C-32 is a welcome response to Canada’s antiquated copyright law. It creates effective remedies against those who circumvent technological protection measures, as well as those who provide, market, or import tools designed to enable circumvention. It also preserves the balance in copyright law by not making it illegal to circumvent copy control technological protection measures for fair dealing purposes such as research, private study and education," says the letter to Clement, dated June 28. But the business group takes issue with the bill’s proposal for a “notice and notice” system of ISP liability, in which rights holders notify ISPs of alleged violations on their networks, and ISPs forward the notice to the alleged copyright infringer. Instead, the chamber is pushing for a “notice and takedown” approach, which requires ISPs to remove allegedly infringing materials online identified by rights holders. The group also proposes that under a notice and takedown regime, ISPs receive “safe harbour” protection from copyright liability. The business group recommends instead a “notice and takedown” “In so doing, the government should ensure that internet service providers acting in good faith are not held liable, and that a fair process is available to enable removed content to be put back by internet service providers if requested by the poster.” The Conservative government and the Liberal government before it have rejected a notice and takedown regime. The Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright (BCBC), whose membership includes Telus, Rogers Communications, Google, Yahoo, and the Retail Council of Canada, are also opposed to a notice and takedown system. The chamber said the government should view Bill C-32 “as only a starting point for more comprehensive reform of the legislation framework,” and proposes a series of “stricter rules” to combat trademark and intellectual property counterfeiting. The chamber represents 60,000 Ontario businesses.

Ontario business group calls on Clement for notice-and-takedown

Brief | July 6, 2010

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Ontario business group calls on Clement for notice-and-takedown

Brief | July 6, 2010

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