Leaked secret EU-Canada copyright agreement - EU screws Canada

By Cory Doctorow at 10:35 pm Wednesday, Dec 16

Leaks have emerged from another secret copyright treaty, this one between the EU and Canada. The EU is really screwing Canada with this one, demanding longer copyright terms, more liability for ISPs (which means that it gets harder and more expensive to host anything from a message board to a video), laws against breaking copyright protection (even for a legal purpose, like getting your own files back), and a royalty on the sale of used copyrighted goods (so you'd have to track down and pay the rightsholder when you resold a painting or other copyrighted work).

And all this while Minister Tony Clement has been conducting a consultation with Canadians on what they think Canada's copyright laws should be -- at the same time, Canada's government has been sneakily negotiating two secret copyright treaties that would tie Parliament's hands and throw away Canadians' own Made-in-Canada copyright rules.

While the leaked document may only represent the European position, there is little doubt that there will enormous pressure on Canadian negotiators to cave on the IP provision in return for "gains" in other areas. The net result is that when combined with the ACTA requirements, Canadian copyright law reform may cease to become Canadian. Instead, the rules will be dictated by secretive agreements as the U.S. and Europe tag team to pressure Canada into dramatic changes far beyond those even proposed in Bills C-60 or C-61.

Beyond ACTA: Proposed EU - Canada Trade Agreement Intellectual Property Chapter Leaks