Comments on: RIAA and MPAA hijack the border (or someone like them) http://weblawg.costinmedia.com/wp/intellectual-property/riaa-and-mpaa-hijack-the-border/ Information Society through the Prism of Law Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:18:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jeremy Costin http://weblawg.costinmedia.com/wp/intellectual-property/riaa-and-mpaa-hijack-the-border/comment-page-1/#comment-10433 Jeremy Costin Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:03:03 +0000 http://weblawg.costinmedia.com/wp/?p=71#comment-10433 There may be a difference between "respected" and "enforced" here. Indeed unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted works is rampant in many parts of Asia, and often at a commercial or industrial scale. The point I mean to make is that many of these countries respect IP and are signatories to Berne, TRIPs, WCT, etc. (For a decent table compiling the various signatory lists see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_agreements" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia: List of parties to international copyright agreements</a>) The issue is that what these countries have signed, and to which these countries have ostensibly agreed, is subsequently not enforced. Whereas many countries such as Canada (but not the U.S. in recent years) tend to go soft on private use copying but take a hard line on commercial infringement, these countries don't even do that. ACTA should be used to give teeth to operations seeking to stop commercial counterfeit operations, while not turning border police into watchdogs over what you keep on your mp3 player. I fear this is not the case, and it will be used to go for low-hanging fruit (teens with mp3 players crossing through border checkpoints) while continuing to ignore the actual black market revenue centres, which as you accurately point out, are often in Asia. Many are also in Russia, bridging the Asian and European counterfeit markets. There may be a difference between “respected” and “enforced” here. Indeed unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted works is rampant in many parts of Asia, and often at a commercial or industrial scale. The point I mean to make is that many of these countries respect IP and are signatories to Berne, TRIPs, WCT, etc. (For a decent table compiling the various signatory lists see Wikipedia: List of parties to international copyright agreements)

The issue is that what these countries have signed, and to which these countries have ostensibly agreed, is subsequently not enforced. Whereas many countries such as Canada (but not the U.S. in recent years) tend to go soft on private use copying but take a hard line on commercial infringement, these countries don’t even do that.

ACTA should be used to give teeth to operations seeking to stop commercial counterfeit operations, while not turning border police into watchdogs over what you keep on your mp3 player. I fear this is not the case, and it will be used to go for low-hanging fruit (teens with mp3 players crossing through border checkpoints) while continuing to ignore the actual black market revenue centres, which as you accurately point out, are often in Asia. Many are also in Russia, bridging the Asian and European counterfeit markets.

]]> By: Matthew Anderson http://weblawg.costinmedia.com/wp/intellectual-property/riaa-and-mpaa-hijack-the-border/comment-page-1/#comment-10431 Matthew Anderson Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:39:25 +0000 http://weblawg.costinmedia.com/wp/?p=71#comment-10431 intellectual property is not really respected in most countries in asia where piracy is so rampant.`-: intellectual property is not really respected in most countries in asia where piracy is so rampant.`-:

]]>