CANADA - The updated Canadian Copyright Act, a bill that is similar to the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright Act, could be introduced before Dec. 25, said Canadian attorney Paul G. Kent-Snowsell.
"The new legislation will closely mirror and parrot the DMCA as a result of our politicians bowing to the pressure from these U.S. corporate lobbyists," he told AVN Online on Monday.
Kent-Snowsell said the bill is to be tabled, made available for review and then debated in the House of Commons. A number of amendments could be made. The bill would have to "pass through" three readings before being voted into law, Kent-Snowsell said.
The Canadian Music Creators Coalition, a lobby group whose members include Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and The Barenaked Ladies, opposes the changes to the Canadian Copyright Act, which would permit wide-sweeping lawsuits against those who download or copy digital media.
"Those opposed to the legislation argue that it is out of step with today's technologies and the emerging technologies of the Internet," Kent-Snowsell said. "Further, it is unnecessary based on the government's own research."
Kent-Snowsell said Industry Canada, a ministry of the federal government, has released a study finding that peer-to-peer file sharing "does not put downward pressure on purchasing music, as the music industry has insisted for years."
"In fact, it does just the opposite, tending to increase music purchasing," he said.
The DMCA, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1998, made it illegal to transmit or profit from copyrighted material online.
Under the DMCA, service providers are not liable for copyrighted material being part of their services if can prove they have systems in place to address complaints of copyright infringement. YouTube, AdultFriendFinder, MySpace, Google, PornoTube and RapidShare are among the service providers that have used this defense.
