CLUE - Patents & Copyrights

Should the iPad be illegal?

Fri, 28 May 2010 09:54:07 -0400

I would like to clarify quotes in two recent CBC articles by Peter Nowak: Copyright bill may spark battle over who owns what and Apple iPad hits Canada amid controversy.

In each it is suggested that I believe that the iPad should be illegal. What I said should be illegal is the application of non-owner locks to technology. I am not concerned with Apples technology, only radical changes to the law that legalize and/or legally protect a form of theft.

The Barenaked Smear Job: A C-61 connection?

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:08:07 -0400

By now most Canadians know that Barenaked Ladies lead singer Steven Page has been arrested in New York in relation to alleged cocaine possession.

An interesting observation on news reports about Page's arrest suggest not only a massive smear campaign going on in the media (for instance, he never admitted to using the coke as some reports have asserted), but potentially a nasty motive behind the smear.

Charlie Angus: Parliament's biggest C-61 foe?

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:14:12 -0400

Popular news site TorrentFreak has singled out Canadian MP Charlie Angus (NDP --Timmins-James Bay) as one of the world's more vocal politician critics of DMCA-like laws such as Canada's pending C-61.

Does anyone here know Charlie? Does personal experience here bear out his now-international reputation on the issue? And to what extent is his position backed by his party?

Open source group: copyright bill will hurt innovators

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:12:12 -0400

For immediate release: Ottawa, June 16, 2008

Open source group: copyright bill will hurt innovators
Canadian Software Innovation Alliance comes out against Bill C-61

The Canadian Software Innovation Alliance (CSIA), a coalition of Canadian open source businesses and supporters, worries that Bill C-61, 'An Act to Amend the Copyright Act,' introduced by the Conservative government on June 12, threatens the open source business model.

December issue of the Open Source Business Resource

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:46:05 -0500

The December issue of the Open Source Business Resource is now out (PDF)

This issue includes (pp 29-33 in the PDF) my article titled "Protecting Information Technology Property rights". This article, and a letter to the editor, also promote The Canadian Software Innovation Alliance, which has launched a new website.

Michael Geist on the EMI DRM Announcement

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 00:02:54 -0400

The EMI DRM Announcement - EMI and Apple jointly announced today that EMI will be making virtually its entire music catalog available without DRM. Their plan is to offer a higher priced version without DRM and with higher quality sound. This is obviously an important development - there is lots of DRM-free music available from independent labels, but the addition of the world's third largest music label is a game-changer.

CIPO Reviewing Software Patent Practice

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 08:01:05 -0500

A thank-you to Michael Geist for blogging about a revision of MOPOP.

Thanks to a reader for pointing out the the Canadian Intellectual Property Office is currently reviewing several chapters from its Manual of Patent Office Practice . Chapters subject to review include those covering software patents and biotechnology, matters of interest to the open source and scientific communities. CIPO provides details on submitting comments here.

Alphabet soup of acronyms: TPM, DRM, TCPA, RMS, RMI

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:11:28 -0500

There is an alphabet soup of acronyms people use when talking about some of the controversies around copyright related issues. While learning the acronyms are hard enough, we also have to deal with the fact that different communities are using the terms in different ways. I have had the opportunity to interact with technical, legal and law making communities and will try to make sense out of a few most often heard acronyms.

Changes to Canadian copyright act imminent: Likely to attack FLOSS.

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:32:20 -0500

Michael Geist has an article about how Canadian Press is reporting that the introduction of a copyright reform bill is imminent.

Expect to see a lot of Graham Henderson misinformation (lies? Maybe he doesn't understand technology enough to know better) about DRM, and the false claim that there is a need to attack the tangible property rights of Canadians in order to protect the business models of specific copyright holders.

"I've often said, if you've bought it, you're my best friend, knock yourself out," Henderson said of the music his members sell. "You've just bought a valuable piece of property, and you want to be able to use it to the fullest extent you can - without cheating the system."

Policy Coordinator on CHUT radio in Montreal

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 12:17:13 -0500

I was interviewed for a CHUT radio show called L'heure est au libre that airs from 11:00-11:30 on Mondays. The archive for the show aired Monday January 8, 2007 are online.

Copyright-related Policy summary from CLUE: Canada's Association for Open Source

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:17:14 -0500

CLUE presented our copyright policy summary to officials at Heritage Canada on December 1, 2006. The proposals include a support for a living "Fair Use" model, as well as an opposition to laws which protect specific brands of technology rather than protecting creativity.

The power of diversity in FLOSS

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:55:25 -0500

There is quite a bit of talk about the Microsoft-Novell deal, Oracle's support for RedHat Linux, Sun's release of Java as FLOSS using the GNU GPL, and many other Linux and Open Source stories. They got me to thinking: We don't know which strategies being carried out by various companies are likely to succeed in the marketplace, but we do know that whoever wins they can't help but be part of the Linux/FLOSS ecosystem.

A letter in the Hill Times from CLUE's policy coordinator

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:42:07 -0500

This October 30th, 2006 issue of the Hill Times includes 3 letters to the editor in response to Canadian Recording Industry Association lobbyist Barry Sookman's opinion piece titled "Copyright reform: let the light shine in". The last of these letters is from me, and ends by noting that "The letter-writer is policy coordinator for Canada's Association for Open Source".

CLUE policy coordinator at the Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 22:38:19 -0400

CLUE supporters might ask what Telecommunications Policy has to do with Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS), and why I would be at the Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum. My interest in FLOSS came out of my interest in community networking where networks and the software that controls them are decentrally controlled. It turns out that many of the recent and most controversial "copyright" related policies that threaten FLOSS, such as anti-circumvention policy (legal protection for DRM, DMCA, 1996 WIPO treaties), is also a derivative of telecommunications policy discussions, but with the opposite vision of these networks.

A perspective on the freelance journalism case from CLUE: Canada's Association for Open Source.

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:02:17 -0400

On October 12, 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada released a decision in a case first launched in 1996 by Heather Robertson, a freelance journalist, and Thompson Corporation, the then-owner of the Globe and Mail. (Citation: Robertson v. Thomson Corp., 2006 SCC 43)