Viewing cable 07OTTAWA765, PRIME MINISTER HARPER'S LETTER ON IPR

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000765 
 
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: PRIME MINISTER HARPER'S LETTER ON IPR 
 
¶1. (SBU) On April 26, Ambassador Wilkins received a letter 
from Prime Minister Harper regarding U.S. concerns about the 
protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Canada. 
This letter, dated April 23, responds to a letter that the 
Ambassador wrote to the Prime Minister on January 31 
regarding USG concerns on IPR. This exchange is not public; 
agencies should not reveal the content or existance of these 
letters. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Comment: The Prime Minister offers no new 
information or policy initiatives in his letter which was 
delivered two business days before USTR formally announces 
the 2007 Special 301 report. Additionally, the Prime 
Minister appears to link progress on IPR initiatives under 
the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) to initiatives 
on regulatory cooperation - a major Canadian concern. Given 
the timing of the letter, the lack of progress on IPR issues, 
and the attempt to link IPR to an unrelated Canadian concern 
we view this as an attempt to justify their inactivity rather 
than make the changes which more and more Canadians are 
realizing are needed. End Comment. 
 
¶3. The full text of the Prime Minster's letter of April 23 to 
Ambassador Wilkins follows: 
 
Excellency: 
 
Thank you for your recent letter which raised several 
important issues related to intellectual property rights. 
First, I would like to extend my appreciation for your 
dedication to ensuring a strong relationship between our two 
countries, one based on mutual respect and a long and deep 
history of cooperation. 
 
With respect to intellectual property rights, I can assure 
you that the Government of Canada takes the concerns you have 
raised in your letter very seriously. Work is underway to 
bring Canada's copyright regime into conformity with the 
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Internet 
Treaties. This work forms part of our efforts to ensure the 
effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property 
rights in Canada in a digital age, to provide intellectual 
property protections to both our domestic and trading 
partners' industries, and to ensure investment, growth and 
innovation. 
 
The Minister of Industry and the Minister of Canadian 
Heritage are planning to move forward with proposals for 
important changes to Canada's copyright regime in the coming 
months that would provide for the implementation of the WIPO 
Internet Treaties in our domestic legislation. 
 
Regarding the concerns you have raised about video piracy, 
remedies do exist for copyright infringement for the purposes 
of commercial distribution in our current laws. Canada 
possesses stiff penalties in the Copyright Act in order to 
deter and prevent the commercial distribution of copyrighted 
material. In addition, good cooperation exists between our 
law enforcement officials and industry associations concerned 
with video piracy. For example, the Royal Canadian Mounted 
Police is currently working with the Canadian Motion Picture 
Distributors Association (CMPDA) to improve enforcement in 
this area. 
 
I take note of the fact that your letter points to concerns 
about the enforcement of these laws. The Government of 
Canada is reviewing the enforcement of intellectual property 
rights, and options to strengthen this regime, in order to 
combat video piracy and the trade in counterfeit and pirated 
goods. 
 
Our governments are working closely together on initiatives 
QOur governments are working closely together on initiatives 
under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North 
America (SPP), including on intellectual property. We have 
seen some progress on intellectual property initiatives under 
this umbrella, and I would like to take this opportunity to 
raise the importance of greater regulatory cooperation, an 
issue of importance to Canada under the SPP including a 
robust Regulatory Cooperation Framework. Enhanced 
cooperation between Canadian and United States regulators at 
an early stage of the regulatory process is essential to 
minimizing trade barriers and increasing the competitiveness 
of businesses on both sides of the border. 
 
I look forward to ongoing engagement on these trade-related 
issues, and to progress on joint initiatives, so as to 
continue to build upon our successes to date. 
 
OTTAWA 00000765 002 OF 002 
 
 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Stephen Harper 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) The full text of the Ambassador's letter of January 
31 to Prime Minister Harper follows: 
 
Dear Mr. Prime Minister: 
 
I want to thank you for your constant and successful efforts 
to improve the strong and productive relationship between our 
two countries. Over the past year, we have enjoyed notable 
progress in a number of areas -- including settlement of the 
softwood lumber issue -- due to your efforts. 
 
One important trade-related issue, however, continues to draw 
our attention and concern: intellectual property rights. 
Securing effective and adequate protection of intellectual 
property rights in Canada has become the U.S. Government's 
top priority in our bilateral economic agenda. The U.S. and 
Canadian motion picture, sound recording, and computer 
software industries share our goal. The Royal Canadian 
Mounted Police estimates that intellectual property crime 
costs the Canadian economy between $10 billion and $30 
billion annually. 
 
I greatly appreciate the commitment of Industry Minister 
Maxime Bernier and Canadian Heritage Minister Beverley Oda to 
improve Canada's protection of intellectual property rights. 
I understand that they are working on copyright legislation 
that will, inter alia, ratify and implement the World 
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) "Internet 
Treaties," which Canada signed in 1997. I urge your 
Government to introduce the copyright legislation into 
Parliament with all due speed, ideally before the end of 
February. The United States would be pleased to see the 
legislation include a prohibition against the manufacture and 
trafficking of circumvention devices and a "notice and 
takedown" model with respect to Internet Service Provider 
(ISP) liability. 
 
The United States is committed to supporting Canada,s 
efforts to create an intellectual property rights framework 
that promotes a high standard of protection, that encourages 
innovation, and that spurs economic growth in Canada. The 
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab wrote to Minister 
Bernier last year on this issue and earlier this month raised 
intellectual property rights with Ambassador Wilson in 
Washington. To underscore our concerns, I met with -- and 
wrote to -- Minister Bernier and plan to meet Minister Oda on 
February 1. I am pleased to note that public awareness of 
intellectual property rights concerns is growing in Canada. 
There has been increased media attention recently, including 
a January 13 Globe and Mail article entitled "Pirates of the 
Canadians," which reported on the link between worldwide DVD 
piracy and camcording in Montreal movie theaters. A similar 
article appeared in the January 30 Toronto Sun. 
 
As always, the Embassy staff and the United States Government 
stand ready to assist the Government of Canada in this 
important endeavor. 
 
Sincerely, 
David H. Wilkins 
Ambassador 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS