Well, it seems that common sense has prevailed and the Mint will pursue fresh and more fertile IP conquests elsewhere…

The Toronto Star has a brief no-nonsense editorial today commemorating the Mint’s realization that there is another side to this coin. Maybe the Mint will strike a new coin to celebrate its ascent into enlightenment.

Maybe now they’ll go after Certs®, the breath mint, which is a registered trade-mark but not an “official mark,” because the appearance of the CERTS mark resembles CENTS and the very thought of such litigation would take your breath away. Actually, it wouldn’t work, but never mind details such as the law and think of all the tax payer’s money that would be spent in coming to that belated conclusion..

To coin a phrase, I’d like to think that my two cents worth of prescient advice on this innocent little blog helped save the taxpayers from a decent into very expensive nonsense.

HK

It begins thus:

Canadians were suddenly freed last week from the grim prospect of a whopping $75 “iPod tax” on portable digital music players with 30 gigabytes or more of embedded storage space. The levy, approved by the Copyright Board of Canada in July, would have kicked in this year, raising the domestic price on high-end versions of Apple’s iPod and its market rivals by around 30%. Retailers and manufacturers naturally moved fast to appeal the decision, and won big. The decision penned by Federal Court of Appeal Judge Karen Sharlow is just six brusque paragraphs in length, and required less than 24 hours to deliver.

It is not hard to understand why the court’s action was so quick and vicious…

HK

The FCA hearing on the judicial review of the Board’s decision was held yesterday. It took the Court less than 24 hours to render its decision – which told the Board that the Court’s previous decision on the same issue from 2004 is “dispositive.”

The Court, per Sharlow, J.A., said:

I read that case as authority for the proposition that the Copyright Board has no legal authority to certify a tariff on digital audio recorders or on the memory permanently embedded in digital audio recorders. That proposition is binding on the Copyright Board….

It follows that the Copyright Board erred in law when it concluded that it has the legal authority to certify the tariff that CPCC has proposed for 2008 and 2009 on digital audio recorders, and in dismissing the applicants’ motions.

I acted in this matter for the Retail Council of Canada, which along with Apple Canada, etc. had brought the applications to quash.

The Applicants were awarded their costs. The reasons are very brief. The Court was very decisive.

P.S. – There’s a lot of press coverage – but the Globe and Mail was one of the first to report and has an online collection of comment from over 100 readers. It’s here.

HK

The gist of it is this:

Here are the five specific principles that our brands (Best Buy, Future Shop) and our customers believe in:

• “Taxes” on technology are wrong. The private copying levy scheme should be repealed. Why should Canadians pay up to $75 in “taxes” on iPods and similar devices? Given the strong Canadian dollar and the ease of cross-border shopping, this proposed levy would have devastating effects on the Canadian market for these types of devices. Countless Canadians regard this tax as unnecessary, unfair and highly inefficient. Moreover, most of the proceeds leave this country.

• Creators of intellectual property deserve to be paid, but not multiple times through several collectives for proliferating and overlapping rights for the same transaction. For example, if a consumer buys a track from iTunes, the consumer shouldn’t have to pay further costs for a “communication” right to receive that track online or for a levy to store it on an audio recording medium. Furthermore, where does one draw the line on the boundaries of this tax? This proposed levy sets a dangerous precedent that can easily extend to other devices such as cellphones, personal computers and laptops; in fact, this has not been ruled out by the Copyright Board.

• Consumers’ rights shouldn’t be removed by Digital Rights Management (“DRM”) technology, which threatens to put digital locks on content, devices and ultimately our culture. Our customers should be able to do anything that is legal according to copyright law, including making backup copies and copying for purposes of fair dealing. The music industry itself is rapidly abandoning DRM. If anything, consumers need protection from DRM rather than the other way ’round.

• Canadians should enjoy a flexible and open-ended list of fair dealing rights, including time, space and format shifting, and the right to mix, remix, mash and engage in satire and parody. Our children now have creative tools we never dreamed of, enabling them to make professional quality movies, sound recordings and engage in remarkable research and learning. Let’s not stifle them.

• Our customers shouldn’t have to worry about being sued for private, non-commercial activities. Canada is not a litigious “zero tolerance” regime. If the law is amended to facilitate such litigation here, experience suggests that it will surely happen. We agree with Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies who says, “We think lawsuits … would be terrible for the music business in Canada. It’s short-sighted to say ‘See you in court’ one day and ‘See you at Massey Hall’ the next.”

HK

(Disclosure – I have acted for Best Buy Canada and Future Shop at the Copyright Board and in the Courts on the private copying levy file.)

I was quoted as follows:

On his blog, Excess Copyright, Howard Knopf, an intellectual property lawyer, also wrote that copyright could become an election issue as many more people are taking note of the file. “It’s an emotional file that has lots of zeros attached to it in terms of dollar value. Many billions of dollars in fact. Not to mention cultural sovereignty and consumer rights and choice. A potent combination,” Mr. Knopf said. “All of this could add up to votes. And lots of them in the hands of voters who can and will read minutes from committees, blogs and other relevant stuff. And who will find each other and become empowered via the internet. This may not be a cakewalk for the government and it could have interesting consequences at election time.

This was from my Novemer 29, 2007 blog – a couple of weeks or so before we knew that Minister Prentice would retreat….and before Michael’s Facebook site had almost 37,000 current members…

Welcome to 2008…

HK

Here’s what I found on the Access Copyright website (not to be confused with this blog’s “Excess Copyright” name):

To find out about the public domain registry that Access Copyright is working on creating with Creative Commons and the Wikimedia Foundation, please click here.

If you click on “here“, this is what you will see:

The page cannot be found The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. … Technical Information (for support personnel) Go to Microsoft Product Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and 404.

UPDATE JANUARY 5, 2008:

The Access Copyright links above now work. If you click on them, you will be told:

For Immediate Release
March 3, 2006
Toronto, ON – Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency and Creative Commons Canada, in partnership with Creative Commons Corporation in the US, today announced the development of a Canadian public domain registry. The ground-breaking project – the most comprehensive of its kind in Canada – will create an online, globally searchable catalogue of published works that are in the Canadian public domain.

Note the date – March 3, 2006.

So far, the only database of Canadian PD works I’ve seen is from a certain public domain loving gadfly named Wallace McLean. And he doesn’t have revenues of more than $30 million a year.

So where is our Access Copyright public domain registry, after almost two years of waiting?????

Dunno – and I’m now an Access Copyright mole member

So, maybe Access Copyright should spend USD $37 (less than that in real CDN $) to get the real inside scoop here at THE PUBLIC DOMAIN PROWLER.

Yes, for only $37, you too can supposedly profit from the public domain. This offer is available here (and it goes without saying that I make no endorsements as to what you are about to see…)

So here in the spirit of research or private study:

**********************************

Here’s EXACTLY What get When You Grab This Package Today…

1. You receive the Public Domain Prowler software complete with all of the features outlined above. ($197 value)

2. You receive Master Resale Rights to the software. This means you can legally sell my package yourself as well should you choose to! You will receive two webpages that you can use to sell it on from your own domain. See webpage 1 or webpage 2. ($297 value)

3. You receive the ten “Public Domain Reports”, “How To Profit From Public Domain”, the “Quick Reference Guide To Public Domain Criteria”, and “How To Perform Certified Copyright Searches” reports with an accompanying resale rights certificate and webpage to sell them from ($49.95 value)

4. For a limited time during <!– Begin var AddDays = 0; // How many days ahead of the current date TDate = new Date(); TDay = new Array(‘Sunday’, ‘Monday’, ‘Tuesday’, ‘Wednesday’, ‘Thursday’, ‘Friday’, ‘Saturday’); TMonth = new Array(‘January’, ‘February’, ‘March’, ‘April’, ‘May’,'June’, ‘July’, ‘August’, ‘September’, ‘October’, ‘November’, ‘December’); MonthDays = new Array(’31′, ’28′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′); function isLeapYear (Year) { if (((Year % 4)==0) && ((Year % 100)!=0) || ((Year % 400)==0)) { return true; } else { return false; } } CurYear = TDate.getYear(); if (CurYear days) { if (CurMonth == 11) { CurMonth = 0; month = TMonth[CurMonth]; CurYear = CurYear + 1 } else { month = TMonth[CurMonth+1]; } CurDay = CurDay – days; } CurDayOw += AddDays; function adjustDay (cday) { if (cday > 6) { cday -= 6; CurDayOw = TDay[cday-1]; adjustDay(cday-1); } else { CurDayOw = TDay[cday]; return true; } } adjustDay(CurDayOw); TheDate = month + ‘ ‘; if (CurYearJanuary 2008, you also receive the ebook “Public Domain: Turning Ideas To Dollars” with full Master Resale Rights ($37 value)

5. Also for the limited period during <!– Begin var AddDays = 0; // How many days ahead of the current date TDate = new Date(); TDay = new Array(‘Sunday’, ‘Monday’, ‘Tuesday’, ‘Wednesday’, ‘Thursday’, ‘Friday’, ‘Saturday’); TMonth = new Array(‘January’, ‘February’, ‘March’, ‘April’, ‘May’,'June’, ‘July’, ‘August’, ‘September’, ‘October’, ‘November’, ‘December’); MonthDays = new Array(’31′, ’28′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′); function isLeapYear (Year) { if (((Year % 4)==0) && ((Year % 100)!=0) || ((Year % 400)==0)) { return true; } else { return false; } } CurYear = TDate.getYear(); if (CurYear days) { if (CurMonth == 11) { CurMonth = 0; month = TMonth[CurMonth]; CurYear = CurYear + 1 } else { month = TMonth[CurMonth+1]; } CurDay = CurDay – days; } CurDayOw += AddDays; function adjustDay (cday) { if (cday > 6) { cday -= 6; CurDayOw = TDay[cday-1]; adjustDay(cday-1); } else { CurDayOw = TDay[cday]; return true; } } adjustDay(CurDayOw); TheDate = month + ‘ ‘; if (CurYearJanuary 2008, you’ll receive Joe Cooper’s “Niche Profits Course” ($97 value)

What Would All This Be Worth to You?

If you are running, or are planning to create a business from the republishing and repackaging of creative works in the public domain, then this package will save you a great deal of time and is therefore priceless.

As you might imagine, software programs which include such a comprehensive set of features and information don’t generally come cheap. In a very real sense, you usually only get what you pay for.

The good news is that I have decided to make this software as affordable as possible in order to make it accessible to as many people as possible in the hope of recouping my investment via quantity sold rather than price.

So, I am not selling the Public Domain Prowler package for $297. No, it’s not even $197. Nor even $97?

Can you believe that your investment to obtain this extremely
comprehensive package is currently only $77
For this limited time promotion during <!– Begin var AddDays = 0; // How many days ahead of the current date TDate = new Date(); TDay = new Array(‘Sunday’, ‘Monday’, ‘Tuesday’, ‘Wednesday’, ‘Thursday’, ‘Friday’, ‘Saturday’); TMonth = new Array(‘January’, ‘February’, ‘March’, ‘April’, ‘May’,'June’, ‘July’, ‘August’, ‘September’, ‘October’, ‘November’, ‘December’); MonthDays = new Array(’31′, ’28′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′); function isLeapYear (Year) { if (((Year % 4)==0) && ((Year % 100)!=0) || ((Year % 400)==0)) { return true; } else { return false; } } CurYear = TDate.getYear(); if (CurYear days) { if (CurMonth == 11) { CurMonth = 0; month = TMonth[CurMonth]; CurYear = CurYear + 1 } else { month = TMonth[CurMonth+1]; } CurDay = CurDay – days; } CurDayOw += AddDays; function adjustDay (cday) { if (cday > 6) { cday -= 6; CurDayOw = TDay[cday-1]; adjustDay(cday-1); } else { CurDayOw = TDay[cday]; return true; } } adjustDay(CurDayOw); TheDate = month + ‘ ‘; if (CurYearJanuary 2008 , I am letting my software and ebook package go out the door for only $37!

I think you would have to agree with me that this is an extremely good offer.

Grab the Public Domain Prowler Package today and facilitate your progress in creating a business that enables you to start earning the type of money you need to achieve the goals you have for yourself and your family.

Order your Package right now : Yes! I’m More Than Ready To Grab the Public Domain Prowler Package for just $77 Currently only $37 – Oh My! (… including Master Resale Rights!) I also understand that the “Public Domain Prowler Package” comes with the 60 day iron-clad full money back guarantee previously stated, so I have absolutely no-risk whatsoever. The Public Domain Prowler Research & Management Software Click here to order right now with our Secure Server. The entire package is an instant download. Remember: If you’re not thrilled with this software and package, just let me know within 60 days, and you’ll pay absolutely nothing, no questions asked!

To Your Public Domain Republishing Success!

P.S. Don’t let this current very modest price fool you. This package is realistically valued at $543.95! Not to mention that you’ll receive an additional $183 worth of bonuses when you order during my Limited Time offer during <!– Begin var AddDays = 0; // How many days ahead of the current date TDate = new Date(); TDay = new Array(‘Sunday’, ‘Monday’, ‘Tuesday’, ‘Wednesday’, ‘Thursday’, ‘Friday’, ‘Saturday’); TMonth = new Array(‘January’, ‘February’, ‘March’, ‘April’, ‘May’,'June’, ‘July’, ‘August’, ‘September’, ‘October’, ‘November’, ‘December’); MonthDays = new Array(’31′, ’28′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′, ’30′, ’31′); function isLeapYear (Year) { if (((Year % 4)==0) && ((Year % 100)!=0) || ((Year % 400)==0)) { return true; } else { return false; } } CurYear = TDate.getYear(); if (CurYear days) { if (CurMonth == 11) { CurMonth = 0; month = TMonth[CurMonth]; CurYear = CurYear + 1 } else { month = TMonth[CurMonth+1]; } CurDay = CurDay – days; } CurDayOw += AddDays; function adjustDay (cday) { if (cday > 6) { cday -= 6; CurDayOw = TDay[cday-1]; adjustDay(cday-1); } else { CurDayOw = TDay[cday]; return true; } } adjustDay(CurDayOw); TheDate = month + ‘ ‘; if (CurYearJanuary 2008.

P.P.S. As a recap, remember that you will receive the Public Domain Prowler software, as well as (during the promotion period) the ebook Public Domain: Turning Ideas To Dollars, both with full Master Resale Rights along with two different webpage styles to sell them from. You also receive a further webpage and a resale rights certificate for the four David Vallieres bonus reports (inclusive of all 10 of his Public Domain Reports). Don’t Delay. Order This Entire Package Now.

P.P.P.S. If you are still unsure, then simply give the “The Public Domain Prowler” Package a test drive for 60 days. If for any reason you decide that you don’t like the program, keep the entire package as my apology to you for wasting your time. You have nothing to lose with my 100% Risk-Free Full Money Back Guarantee.

Please Note: This is a fully downloadable digital package. Nothing will be physically shipped. You will gain immediate access to “The Public Domain Prowler” and any bonuses as soon as your order is approved. Click Here to order the Public Domain Prowler now.

System Requirements: The Public Domain Prowler comes in .exe format and is designed to run under Windows. If you have an Apple Mac, you will need a PC emulator installed.

The income examples on this website are not intended to represent or guarantee that everyone will achieve the same results. Each individual’s success will be determined by his or her desire, dedication, background, product, effort and motivation to work and follow the program. There is no guarantee you will duplicate the results stated here. You recognize any business endeavor has inherent risk for loss of capital.

The viewing & use of this website signifies your agreement, acceptance & understanding of our:

The derivative design and content on this webpage is Copyright © 2007 Financially Free Pty Ltd.

************

Who said copyright law was dull, boring and geeky?

Happy New Year and caveat emptor – whether in relation to certain copyright collective’s announcements or certain 100% Risk-Free Full Money Back Guarante opportunities…

HK

Some notables include Jean Sibelius, who is both highly overrated and underrated…who died in 1957…and whose turgid, frigid, and haunting symphonies would now make excellent fodder for movie scores about bleak northern landscapes and dark Jungian dreams….

The IPKat also has a select few treasure troves of PD manna from heaven based on the UK’s life + 70 regime (O, Not to be in England!)

But watch out for international issues, conflict of laws problems, etc. As I told the IPKat:

A real problem arises when copyright owners in life + 70 countries try to assert rights extraterritorially in life + 50 countries such as Canada. We had an unpleasant reminder of this earlier this year in Canada from Universal Edition AG of Vienna which threatened a CDN website with lots of PD in Canada scores, including, incredibly, Mahler who died in 1911. Which is a lot more than 70 years ago….

I’ve proposed something potentially useful for WIPO to do along these lines, namely a Public Domain treaty – that might do something to resolve some of the ET and conflict of laws issues… and give WIPO something actually useful and achievable to do…rather than, for example, chasing after a broadcasters’ rights treaty that few want and nobody needs….

…

So, Happy New Year to everyone…..and try do do some good deeds to compensate and atone if it transpires that due to irresistible urges you feel some attraction and secret passion for works in the public domain. You might consider a voluntary donation to Access Copyright (to move it along on its elusive public domain registry) or the RIAA, to help it save great music from extinction by using legally protected DRM to render it all but unusable, and then suing those who love it the most, and to bring such incentives to Canada.

It’s true that Bach, Mozart, and Stravinsky didn’t have the same incentives, such as life + 70 years, that now drive Britney Spears and others to such lofty creative heights. Nor did they have copyright lawyers whose skills and ingenuity were a match those of modern times…if only they had, the world would surely have been different…

Isn’t it wonderful that we’ve made such progress…???

HK

He points out that Australia now has a 645 page – yes 645 page – long Copyright Act, as a direct result of American pressure to ratify the WIPO treaties in the DMCA mode.

I would point out that Australia, which is home to several brilliant copyright scholars, is, however, possibly the worst example Canada could look at with respect to the results of recent American lobbying influence. Note the recent de-election of John Howard’s party and Mr. Howard personally as well. This was not likely over copyright but apparently very likely over Mr. Howard’s pro-Bush/war in Iraq stance.

It seems that this is not a time of automatic deference to American foreign policy wishes. And it seems that copyright has made the leap from occasional academic articles and court cases to front page news and the main stream media - page one of the Globe and Mail on Saturday, December 22, 2007.

But lest I forget, while a 645 page or so copyright act may do very little good for creators and very much harm for users and consumers, it would certainly be terrific news for lawyers looking for more work.

HK

Here’s the NY Times report.

Here’s the Register report, which quotes the colourful lawyer for Antigua, Mark Mendel, who is very dissatisfied with the quantum and method of calculation. He had sought $3.2 billion. And according to this article, it ain’t over yet:

Unlike other WTO rulings, awards of arbitrators are not subject to review by the Appellate Body of the WTO. However, were internet gambling to continue to expand in the US – as seems almost certain – Antigua would have the right to return to the WTO to reassess the damage award. Antigua’s position will also have to be revisited as the US continues its Article 21 proceedings to withdraw gambling services from its WTO commitments.

Here’s Bill Patry’s take on the ironic possibilities of how this amount will translate into action by Antigua. Bill says:

One wonders whose figures Antigua will use to come to that amount: the IIPA’s ludicrously inflated figures, where every estimated unauthorized copy represents a 1:1 displacement of a sale at U.S. prices, or something else of Antigua’s own concoction? I am betting on the latter.

Another irony is that this is about 21 times more than the US is now paying out for the sweet deal it got for flouting its obligation to pay for public performance in small establishments in the WTO “s. 110″ decision.

Here’s the WTO site for everything you wanted to know about this case.

And here’s Jon Newton’s take, and he may have first on this, at least in my travels today.

And here’s where I said back in Augst that this should be taken seriously….

HK