Viewing cable 07OTTAWA691, IPR: MICHAEL GEIST SHARES HIS VIEWS WITH EMBASSY

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DE RUEHOT #0691/01 1081304
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P 181304Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5406
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000691 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR FOR SULLIVAN, MELLE, AND GARDE 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN AND EEB/TPP/MTA/IPC BOGER AND WALLACE 
COMMERCE FOR GERI WORD AND SEBASTIAN WRIGHT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR CA
SUBJECT: IPR: MICHAEL GEIST SHARES HIS VIEWS WITH EMBASSY 
OTTAWA 
 
REF: MONTREAL 150 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On April 12, the DCM and other Embassy 
officers met with University of Ottawa Law Professor Michael 
Geist, who is a prominent public commentator on intellectual 
property rights (IPR) issues, to discuss Canadian copyright 
issues. As expected, Geist's views were generally at odds 
with U.S. policy. He disputed that Canada has a major 
problem with camcording in movies theaters, opposed legal 
protection for digital rights management (DRM), and 
characterized the current state of copyright law in Canada as 
"not too bad". Geist commented that the expected government 
copyright bill, possibly to be introduced later this spring, 
would likely be a political liability for Prime Minister 
Harper's minority government. Furthermore, Geist claimed 
that his views were becoming more popular and that the longer 
the government delays copyright legislation, the more 
seriously his viewpoints will need to be considered. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On April 12, the DCM and other Embassy officers met 
with Michael Geist, University of Ottawa Law Professor and 
frequent Canadian public commentator on IPR issues, to hear 
his views on expected copyright legislation. Geist runs a 
popular blog that discusses IPR-related issues and regularly 
writes columns on the subject that are published by major 
Canadian newspapers. Geist's views, while generally at odds 
with U.S. policy, are taken seriously by the Canadian public, 
academia, and members of the Canadian government. Geist 
defended current Canadian policies and stated that Canada 
meets all international treaty copyright obligations even 
though it has not yet formally implemented the WIPO Internet 
Treaties. 
 
DRM 
------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) Geist stated that he was opposed both to mandated 
DRM and legal protection for DRM. He claimed that market 
pressures were already undermining DRM, citing the recent 
decision by Apple and EMI to sell DRM-free music on iTunes as 
an example. Geist also stated that numerous Canadian artists 
had decided that P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing of their 
music was good for their business because it expanded 
consumer awareness of their product, increased sales, and 
increased concert ticket revenues. Geist commented that it 
was also no longer a good business model for artists to rely 
on income from music sales and that this a losing battle -- 
with or without DRM. He cited several prominent Canadian 
artists to support his case. When we pointed out that the 
individuals he mentioned were already established and did not 
need to worry about their popularity with the public, Geist 
tried to argue that this business model would also be 
advantageous for unknown artists. 
 
Camcording 
-------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Geist disputed industry claims that Canada has a 
major problem with camcording in movie theaters. (Comment: 
The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association claims 
that camcording in Canada is a significant source of pirated 
movie DVDs worldwide. End Comment.) He stated that that 
industry was overstating their case and that camcorded copies 
of movies simply do not make up a large portion of the 
illegal market. Geist believes that relatively few titles 
are targets of camcording and that the "inferior" copies 
produced are soon superseded by legitimate DVDs when these 
become available to the public a few months after a movie is 
released to theaters. Although Geist conceded that theater 
Qreleased to theaters. Although Geist conceded that theater 
camcording is "not a good thing" because it violates the 
creator's copyright and it distorts an artist's work, he 
questioned the need for imposing criminal penalties for the 
simple act of theater camcording. (Comment: Embassy will 
contact movie and theater industry representatives in 
Montreal to see if they would be interested in discussing 
camcording with Geist. He may be unaware of the measures 
they are taking to cope with this problem, which seems to be 
growing. End Comment) 
 
Copyright Law 
------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Geist stated that new copyright law legislation 
would be controversial -- as well as a political liability if 
national elections were called. (Comment: Prime Minister 
 
OTTAWA 00000691 002 OF 002 
 
 
Harper,s chief domestic advisor told Economic 
Minister-Counselor on April 16 that the Harper government 
continues to see a revision of the copyright law as a matter 
of urgency and said that the bill would be introduced in 
Parliament later this spring, a prediction he caveated by 
saying that this assumes that there would not be a spring 
federal election. End comment.) Geist suggested that 
competing interests could produce a more restrictive, less 
advantageous copyright regime in Canada than currently 
exists. That said, Geist stated that some changes he would 
like to see include: 
 
 - Expansion of Canada's limited fair use/fair dealing 
provisions for copyrighted works; 
 - Downward adjustment of statutory damage provisions for 
copyright violations; 
 - Allowing greater public access to government copyrighted 
works; and 
-Institutionalization of the "notice and notice" system for 
Internet Service Providers. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Geist stated that the United States' fair use 
provisions and access to publicly owned works could be good 
models for Canada. He also commented that a solid fair use 
provision in a new copyright bill would go "a long way" 
towards placating parties opposed to stronger IPR protection. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Geist was pleased by the invitation to discuss IPR 
issues at the Embassy. Well-informed and articulate on these 
technical issues, Geist has become the media source of choice 
to balance out the growing chorus of commentators worried 
about Canada's lax IPR protection regime. His 
acknowledgement that Canada is a net importer of copyrighted 
materials helps explain the advantage he would like to hold 
on to with a weaker Canadian UPR protection regime. His 
unvoiced bias against the (primarily U.S. based) 
entertainment industry also reflects deeply ingrained 
Canadian preferences to protect and nurture homegrown artists. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS