Canada still in copyright “hall of shame” according to the US

Sorry, Canada—negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) wasn't enough to show your commitment to "strong" intellectual property rights. If you want out of the American copyright "hall of shame," you're just going to have to pass a major copyright overhaul that makes US rightsholders happy.

The US Trade Representative yesterday released its annual "Special 301" report (PDF) naming and shaming countries with IP policies the US doesn't like. The report contains a "Watch List" and a smaller "Priority Watch List"—and Canada is once again on the Priority Watch List along with China, Russia, and India.

Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Egypt, Bolivia, Brunei, Romania, Spain, even Mexico—Canada is worse then all of them. Why? Canada hasn't yet passed a major copyright overhaul that has already been introduced in several different versions over the last few years.

Unfortunately, Canadian efforts in 2010 to enact long-awaited copyright legislation were unsuccessful. The United States encourages Canada to make the enactment of copyright legislation that addresses the challenges of piracy over the Internet, including by fully implementing the WIPO Internet Treaties, a priority for its new government. The United States encourages Canada to provide for deterrent-level sentences to be imposed for IPR violations, as well as to strengthen enforcement efforts, including at the border. Canada should provide its Customs officials with ex officio authority to effectively stop the transit of counterfeit and pirated products through its territory.

But all is not lost. USTR announced a new program this year under which it "invites any trading partner appearing on the Special 301 Priority Watch List or Watch List to negotiate a mutually agreed action plan designed to lead to that trading partner’s removal from the relevant list."

The US wants a worldwide crackdown on things like "unauthorized retransmission of live sports telecasts over the Internet," "linking sites," and "piracy using mobile telephones, tablets, flash drives, and other mobile technologies." And it's happy to videoconference in US government lawyers to help write the laws that will get countries off the Special 301 list. Now that's service.