NZ ‘3 strikes and you’re gone’ now in overtime
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- The “three strikes” battle is now into overtime in New Zealand.
Suddenly, the odds have turned around from what seemed like a done deal.
The overwhelming protest against the the “three strikes” legislation due to take effect in NZ on February 28, 2009 has caused the Government to delay its implementation.
Prime Minister John Key said today that its implementation date would be pushed back to March 27 to see if the sector can come up with a workable code of practice.
“We are hoping that by that time we will have come up with a voluntary code of practice,” said Mr Key.
If one could not be agreed then the section in question would be suspended, he said.
While this ain’t over ’till it’s over, this is already a sobering lesson to any government that thinks it can painlessly implement “maximalist” copyright “made worse in Canada” legislation based upon American law and the whining of American lobbyists or their Canadian proxies.
It is well known that the American entertainment lobby was very unsatisfied with Canada’s proposed “notice and notice” regime, one of the few sound, balanced and “made in Canada” aspects of Bill C-61.
In fact, this is one of the reasons why the IIPA (basically an emanation of a boutique Washington law and lobbyist firm representing certain major IP trade associations, including the RIAA and MPAA) has accorded Canada the honour of being nominated to the USTR’s 301 “Priority Watch List” for 2009, as it has since Canada was promoted from the more plebeian mere “Watch List” in 2007.
The Americans have been trying to plant “three strikes” in NZ and elsewhere (e.g. France, UK) for some time. Let’s hope that the Canadian government doesn’t give this the time of Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day.
Howard Knopf – Excess Copyright
[Knopf is an Ottawa-based copyright lawyer who's been lead counsel on legal challenges both at the Copyright Board and in the Courts against the excesses of the music industry establishment. He's regularly quoted in the mainstream media and acted against the CRIA in the file sharing litigation, and continues to act against the CPCC, in which the CRIA is still a major stakeholder, on the levy front.]
February , 2009
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