IP review (25th – 29th June)
If you’re having a super full
week ahead and need to freshen up quickly your knowledge on current copyright
and digital piracy cases, here’s your chance to catch up with the latest IP
highlights.
We have collected some pretty
interesting worldwide news, although last week’s focus was definitely on the
UK.
The week started by bringing again to
media’s attention the case of British student Richard
O’Dwyer who faces extradition in the US and up to 10 years in jail for
alleged copyright offences. Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, launched a campaign
to stop the extradition and received a huge public support, more than
26,000 people signing
the petition in less than 24 hours. Labour MP Tom Watson spoke out against the extradition as well, while the case was intensely
debated in the media and on social networks. As we wrote on our blog, Richard
O’Dwyer clearly facilitated copyright
infringement via his website which linked to places to watch TV online, but
in a very similar way to Google, YouTube and other blue chip businesses
identified by our SnifferDog. The difference is obviously that a 24 year old
student doesn’t have the same legal resources to defend himself... Therefore,
we’re looking forward to seeing the results of this campaign.
But last week wasn’t
just about Richard O’Dwyer, but also about the copyright code published for consultation
by Ofcom - the UK regulatory body for the communications industry. Ofcom’s draft guidance, required as part of the
Digital Economy Act legislation has attracted
a lot of negative reactions, especially with regard to the “three-strike” rule
for alleged copyright infringement and the file-sharing appeal system,
considered more or less a ‘joke’. Focusing too much on the end user and applying
a “guilty until proven innocent” policy, the code became quickly
(in)famous in the public sphere and requires a revision of many important
sections. As a result, we have decided ourselves to formally respond to it and send
out our comments to Ofcom. You can read here more about the key
points we have raised.
Taking a look at what
happened outside the UK, one of the most notable events was definitely the
World Intellectual Property Convention where delegates
signed the Beijing Treaty on Protecting Audiovisual
Performances. According to the treaty, artists can approve or ban anyone from
reproducing a particular performance, either a film or a theatre play. This
represents a major positive change for Beijing that aims to become “an
international copyright capital” after many years of criticism on the matter.
In Canada, the Copyright Bill C-11 is one step closer to entry
into force, after being passed by the Senate Banking Committee on June 26th.
Also, The Federal Court of Canada has issued an important
decision in a case involving
copyright and posting content online, dismissing claims of copyright
infringement for linking
and posting paragraphs from an article.
As part of the new
controversial Japanese copyright law, the entertainment industry asked ISPs to spy on all
user activity and check every uploaded file. On another hand, in
protest to the new law, the collective Anonymous hacked
some Japanese government websites.
Finally, ACTA seems
less likely to be implemented in Australia, as a recent parliamentary report recommends that the country not ratify
the treaty until the Federal Government can properly assess the agreement’s
economic and social costs and benefits.
*Thank you for reading our review and we hope
you’ll join the daily IP conversation @KLipcorp.