CETA’s Intellectual Property Exposed to The Public

July 12, 2012 by
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Entertainment Industry, Legal P2P News & Issues 

Some time ago we’ve informed our readers about a new dangerous treaty called CETA or the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. As it seems, a text of the Intellectual Property Chapter has leaked. Here are the details we’ve found out thanks to a ZeroPaid report.

CETA is a trade agreement between Europe and Canada and its purpose is to fundamentally change intellectual property rights. Although at first the agreement seemed to be based on the one-strike policy, the leaked text indicates that CETA is very similar to the former ACTA.

Dr. Michael Geist – Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa – argued that all the concerns within ACTA are magically appearing in CETA.

Here are the details on the provisions included in CETA, as seen on Wikipedia:

- Copyright term extension. The current term of copyright law in Canada is life of the author plus 50 years. This is consistent with the term requirements under the Berne Convention. The EU is demanding that Canada add an additional 20 years by making the term life plus 70 years.

- WIPO ratification. The EU is demanding that Canada respect the rights and obligations under the WIPO Internet treaties. The EU only formally ratified those treaties this week.

– Anti-circumvention provisions. The EU is demanding that Canada implement anti-circumvention provisions that include a ban on the distribution of circumvention devices. There is no such requirement in the WIPO Internet treaties.

– ISP Liability provisions. The EU is demanding statutory provisions on ISP liability where they act as mere conduits, cache content, or host content. ISPs would qualify for a statutory safe harbour in appropriate circumstances. There is no three-strikes and you’re out language (which presumably originates with the U.S.).

- Enforcement provisions. The EU is demanding that Canada establish a host of new enforcement provisions including measures to preserve evidence, ordering alleged infringers to disclose information on a wide range of issue[s], mandate disclosure of banking information in commercial infringement cases, allow for injunctive relief, and destruction of goods. There is also a full section on new border measures requirements.

- Resale rights. The EU is demanding that Canada implement a new resale right that would provide artists with a royalty based on any resales of their works (subsequent to the first sale).

- Making available or distribution rights. The EU is demanding that Canada implement a distribution or making available right to copyright owners.

These are just the copyright provisions. There are sections dealing with patents, trademarks, designs, and (coming soon) geographical indications.

These include:

- requiring Canada to comply with the Trademark Law Treaty (Canada is not a contracting party)
- requiring Canada to accede to the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs
- creating new legal protections for registered industrial designs including extending the term of protection from the current 10 years to up to 25 years
- requiring Canada to comply with the Patent Law Treaty (Canada has signed but not implemented)
- requiring Canada to establish enhanced protection for data submitted for pharmaceutical patents.

The leaked document dates back to February 2012. What will happen from now on is still a mystery, but given the fact that ACTA was rejected in the European Parliament due to its provisions and worldwide protests, it wouldn’t be a surprise if CETA shares the same fate. Furthermore, concerns about the agreement have been already raised, including various non-copyright related issues.

Stay alert for more information on the issue!

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