Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights
 

After less than a month in office the new US Ambassador to Canada wasted little time re-hashing the stereotypical view of Canada and its supposed lax copyright laws. Speaking at a conference in Montreal on Canada-US relations, David Jacobson indicated that Canada deserves its position on the USTR’s Priority Watch List for not legislating copyright reforms dictated by the US (read: lobbyists, corporations).

Considering Mr Jacobson’s litigious past, he spent over 30 years at the prestigious Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, one shouldn’t be too surprised by his rhetorical salvo against Canada and its copyright laws. Canadians can expect more of the same from Mr Jacobson and his office. It just remains to be seen whether the Harper Government will choose to amend Canada’s Copyright Act in a manner consistent with Canadian’s views and ideals or the bullying tactics of US litigators, lobbyists and trade groups.

Sonnenschein’s Intellectual Property & Technology Practice includes an active and extensive international trademark and patent practice. The firm has established a network of foreign counsel—local intellectual property practitioners in countries around the world—who provide vast and wide-ranging expertise in the laws of the countries in which the firm’s clients conduct business, source manufacturing, distribute products or chase infringements and counterfeits.

It seems Mr Jacobson’s message is getting through to Canada’s monopolistic-like media outlets and their mis-informed editors. I would invite Mr McKenna and other interested readers to inform themselves with this well written piece at TechDirt. Or if you prefer a well researched piece containing actual statistics and numbers, read here.