COPYRIGHT REFORM IN CANADA: DAY 4,235

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000583 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAN AND EEB/TPP/IPE STATE PASS USTR FOR SULLIVAN, MELLE, VETERE, AND MCCOY COMMERCE FOR J BOGER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR CA SUBJECT: COPYRIGHT REFORM IN CANADA: DAY 4,235 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On July 20, the Government of Canada kicked off broad public consultations on copyright reform with an invitation-only roundtable discussion in Vancouver. Over the next several weeks the Government will solicit the opinions of experts at roundtable and town hall meetings across Canada and will collect submissions from any interested parties online. The Ministers of Industry and Heritage are embracing the role of technology in the process and have posted webcasts of the roundtable meetings and use Twitter to broadcast updates on the consultations. Several industry stakeholders recognize political value in the consultations and are cautiously optimistic about the process. Others however, are concerned that the broad consultations will delay the introduction of copyright reform legislation and possibly serve as a justification to pursue weaker reforms. Key Government officials insist that they are committed to protecting copyright in Canada - which includes ratifying the WIPO internet treaties (signed by Canada 4,235 days ago) - and that they intend to introduce a bill before the end of the year. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) On July 20, Minister of Industry Clement and Minister of Heritage Moore launched a public consultation on copyright with a roundtable discussion between about 15 key stakeholders. The meeting was held in Vancouver and attended by representatives of the film, music, television, broadcasting, and software industries as well as representatives from library, university, and student associations. One participant in the meeting explained that the large number of participants necessitated that the format consisted of a series of 3-4 minute presentations rather than a discussion. The Ministers reportedly seemed genuine and open minded. Minister Clement declared that copyright reform is an "urgent priority" and that he and Minister Moore are committed to introducing a bill this fall. ¶3. (SBU) Likely in an effort to avoid some of the criticism leveled at the last copyright bill, the Government is making great efforts to make this process transparent. The Ministers and their senior staff will host several roundtable discussions and town hall meetings over the next few weeks. The transcripts and audio feeds of these discussions will be posted on copyright.econsultation.ca. Interested parties can also submit their ideas and view and comment on other's ideas on this site. ¶4. (SBU) Tanya Peatt, Director of Policy, Heritage Canada, recently told econoff that her government is conducting these consultations in part because of the heavy criticism for not holding consultations over the last copyright bill. She reiterated that the Government intends to introduce a bill this fall that will enable Canada to finally implement the WIPO internet treaties. The two Ministers have not yet decided whether they will use the last legislative attempt at copyright reform (Bill C 61) as a starting point or if they will start from scratch, according to Peatt. ¶5. (SBU) The large scale of these consultations concerns some stakeholders. Some have told the Embassy that at best, the consultations look like a stall tactic to delay the introduction of a copyright reform bill, and at worst, cover for the Government to walk back from support for strong, WIPO-compliant copyright reform. Most interested parties QWIPO-compliant copyright reform. Most interested parties agree that the howls of protest from grassroots consumer groups virtually guarantee that the copyright bill will be more "consumer friendly" than the last iteration. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: The pace of copyright reform continues to be a source of great frustration to the Embassy. Given the scope of the consultations, the complexity of the subject, and the government's previous inability to live up to deadlines on this file, we are not confident of the Government's ability to introduce a bill this year. Even if the Government manages to get a bill to Parliament, it is possible that before the bill is passed, Parliament could be dissolved for federal elections, which many pundits predict will be called this winter. End Comment. Visit Canada,s North American partnership community at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / BREESE