Digital Copyright Canada

I'm sitting writing an article for publication in David Ingram's
CEN-TAPEDE (www.centa.com) on the FTAA and a thought struck me as I was
creating a brief history of where copyright came from:

This whole discussion of rights, fair dealing, and such really hinges on
the definition of "publishing" as it relates to the copyright act and
various treaties.

Don't get me wrong, I believe that the social contract that creators and
the public have negotiated in the past and expressed as copyright (and
patent but that is a different fight) is what we should be aiming to
keep in place and not let "the big guys" erode as they seem to be doing
but...

If "publishing" (in the context of when the copyright act takes effect
for a work) were to be defined only as that done without any rights
management or extra contractual ties, then all works not so published
would then become trade secrets (or something to that effect) and would
lose (or never gain) the protection of the government via the copyright
act and have to go after civil damages for individual transgressors.

The consequences to the "rights holders" might be interesting. They'd
have to do their own enforcing instead of getting the government to help
them for one.

Thoughts?

richard

On Mon, 2003-10-20 at 09:01, Samuel Trosow wrote:
> I'm glad to see that EFF has picked up on this issue. The library 
> associations in the US had previously sent in submissions on the 
> overly-broad scope of the draft FTAA, making the point that IP should be 
> removed from the scope of FTAs:
> 
> http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/lt02282003.html
> and
> http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/lt01312003.html
> 
> also see also the letters to Congress and the acton alert calling for 
> the rejection of the US-Singapore and US-Chile FTAs thenpending in Congress:
> 
> http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/lt06192003.html
> http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/lt06192003b.html
> http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/aa06182003.html
> 
> Sam Trosow
> University of Western Ontario
> 
> Russell McOrmond wrote:
> >   I have not verified the content, but find this very interesting.  I have 
> > not been following the FTAA negotiations but find it frustrating that the 
> > USA is using yet another back-door to get DMCA-style LpfTPM legislation 
> > enforced in various countries.
> > 
> > 
> > <Rant  type="standard,frustrated">
> > 
> >   It needs to be remembered that the 3 main classifications of
> > constituencies need very different things: creators, intermediaries, 
> > citizens.
> > 
> > 
> >   - Citizens/users/audiences want access to more works and are generally
> > willing to offer temporary monopolies to get them.  LpfTPM destroys the 
> > ballance that Citizens have offered.
> > 
> >   - Creators want the ability to create and distribute their works in ways
> > that will allow them to receive material and moral rewards.  While this
> > community has not adequately recognized this yet, access to and control
> > over ICT tools is a precondition for this in digital copyright. LpfTPM
> > destroys the precondition of creators being in control of the tools used
> > to create and distribute their works, and hands this control over to even
> > more powerful intermediaries.
> > 
> >  - Intermediaries (especially non-creator copyright holders) want to 
> > maximize the economic rewards of already created works.  Their interests 
> > are strongly against the interests of both citizens and creators.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >   Why is it no surprise that the FTAA seems to focus only on the interests
> > of the intermediaries.  This is a strong contrast from the United Nations
> > Declaration of Human Rights which seeks to protect citizen and creators
> > rights and does not mention intermediaries at all.
> > 
> > </Rant>
> > 
> > ---
> >  Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
> >  Governance software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or
> >  electronically counts votes, shouldn't be bought any more than 
> >  politicians should be bought.  -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/
> > 
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 22:29:56 -0700
> > From: IP Justice <announce@ipjustice.org>
> > To: announce@ipjustice.org
> > Subject: FTAA Treaty '"Threatens Freedom and Free Trade"
> > 
> > IP Justice Media Release
> > October 20, 2003
> > Media contact: Robin Gross, IP Justice Executive Director
> > +1 415-553-6261     robin@ipjustice.org
> > 
> > 
> > FTAA Treaty Chapter on IP '"Threatens Freedom and Free Trade"
> > IP Justice White Paper Reveals Treaty Would Send P2P File-Sharers to Prison
> > Sponsors Petition to Delete Intellectual Property Chapter
> > 
> > - International civil liberties group IP Justice published a report today 
> > entitled "FTAA: A Threat to Freedom and Free Trade," that analyzes key 
> > sections of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Treaty. The FTAA 
> > Treaty will govern the lives of 800 million Americans in the Western 
> > Hemisphere in 2005.
> > 
> > Similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the FTAA Treaty 
> > seeks to bind the 34 democracies in the Western Hemisphere (including the 
> > US) to a single trade agreement. It will require all countries to change 
> > their domestic laws on a wide range of topics, including intellectual 
> > property rights.
> > 
> > The draft intellectual property rights chapter in the FTAA Agreement vastly 
> > expands criminal procedures and penalties against intellectual property 
> > infringements throughout the Americas. One clause would require countries 
> > to send non-commercial infringers such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharers 
> > to prison. It is estimated that 60 million Americans use file-sharing 
> > software in the US alone.
> > 
> > According to the IP Justice report, "unless the second proposed clause to 
> > Article 4.1 is deleted from the FTAA Treaty, Internet music swapping will 
> > be a felony throughout the Western Hemisphere in 2005."
> > 
> > The proposed agreement forbids consumers from bypassing technical 
> > restrictions on their own CDs, DVDs and other property, similar to the 
> > controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Even though bills 
> > are pending in the US Congress to repeal the DMCA, FTAA proposes to outlaw 
> > even more speech and legitimate conduct.
> > 
> > Mislabeled as a "free trade" agreement, the FTAA Agreement would actually 
> > make it illegal to bypass trade barriers such as DVD region code 
> > restrictions and it would enable price discrimination against consumers in 
> > the Americas.
> > 
> > The draft treaty also imposes new definitions for "fair use" and "personal 
> > use," curtailing traditional fair use and personal use rights to a single 
> > copy and only under limited circumstances. This prevents consumers from 
> > backing-up their media collections, using their media in new and innovative 
> > ways, and accessing media for educational and non-commercial purposes.
> > 
> > Another clause would require all countries to amend their copyright laws to 
> > extend copyright's term to at least 70 years after the life of the author, 
> > essentially forcing the new US standard on all other 33 countries in the 
> > hemisphere. Although forbidden by the US Constitution, FTAA's copyright 
> > section would allow companies to copyright facts and scientific data.
> > 
> > Another provision requires all domain name trademark disputes to be decided 
> > by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a 
> > private and unaccountable organization that is ill equipped to determine 
> > the limits of freedom of expression rights or the scope of intellectual 
> > property rights. Americans would no longer have access to their local 
> > public courts to adjudicate rights over their Internet domain names.
> > 
> > "The FTAA Treaty's IP chapter reads like a 'wish list' for RIAA, MPAA, and 
> > Microsoft lobbyists," said IP Justice Executive Director Robin Gross. 
> > "Rather than promote competition and creativity, it is bloated with 
> > provisions that create monopolies over information and media devices," 
> > stated the intellectual property attorney.
> > 
> > In conjunction with the White Paper, IP Justice published an online 
> > petition calling upon the FTAA Trade Ministers to delete the entire chapter 
> > on intellectual property rights from the trade agreement. Earlier this year 
> > Brazil called for scrapping the chapter on intellectual property rights also.
> > 
> > FTAA Treaty negotiators, including the Office of the US Trade 
> > Representative who negotiates on behalf of US government, will meet in 
> > Miami from November 16-21, 2003. Debate over the text of the FTAA Treaty 
> > will conclude by January 2005 and the treaty is due to take effect by 
> > December 2005.
> > 
> > IP Justice White Paper on FTAA IP Chapter:
> > http://www.ipjustice.org/ftaa/whitepaper.shtml
> > 
> > IP Justice FTAA Educational Campaign:
> > http://www.ipjustice.org/ftaa
> > 
> > IP Justice's Top 10 Reasons to Delete FTAA's IP Chapter:
> > http://www.ipjustice.org/ftaa/topten.shtml
> > 
> > IP Justice Petition to Delete FTAA's IP Chapter:
> > http://www.ipjustice.org/ftaa/petition.shtml
> > 
> > Official FTAA Website:
> > http://www.ftaa-alca.org
> > 
> > Draft chapter on intellectual property rights in FTAA Agreement:
> > http://www.ftaa-alca.org/ftaadraft02/eng/draft_e.asp
> > 
> > IP Justice is an international civil liberties organization that promotes 
> > balanced intellectual property law. IP Justice defends individual rights to 
> > use digital media worldwide and is a registered California non-profit 
> > organization. IP Justice was founded in 2002 by Robin D. Gross, who serves 
> > as its Executive Director. To learn more about IP Justice, visit the 
> > website at http://www.ipjustice.org.
> > 
> > --
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> 
> 
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-
Richard C. Pitt			Pacific Data Capture
richard@pacdat.net		604-644-9265
http://richard.pacdat.net       www.pacdat.net
PGP Fingerprint: FCEF 167D 151B 64C4 3333  57F0 4F18 AF98 9F59 DD73

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Digital Copyright Canada

Re: [d@DCC] FTAA Treaty '"Threatens Freedom and Free Trade" (fwd)

All Canadian Citizens are "Rights Holders"!