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Blame Canada!

by Terrence O'Brien on May 2, 2007 at 05:01 PM

Blame Canada!
Everyone knows that China is a hotbed of software and movie piracy, but Canada? Yes, it seems the land that gave us 'Strange Brew,' Pam Anderson and breakfast-friendly ham is also giving copyright violators a safe haven from legal action. That's according to Microsoft, Apple and the other members of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), who recently submitted to the U.S. government their priority picks for countries to blacklist. The blacklist is the first step toward eventually levying international trade sanctions on offending countries.

In ranking how poor of a job a country does enforcing copyright, Canada is currently a tier two country alongside Brazil, South Korea and Mexico. However, the IIPA has recommended promoting Canada to tier one, which would put our neighbors to the north in the same company as China, Russia, Thailand and several other ne'er-do-wells. The beef is that Canada isn't doing nearly enough to prevent thieves from violating copyright laws.

The U.S. government, however, does not agree with the IIPA and has granted Canada a stay of execution for now. The IIPA expressed disappointment at the decision, claiming that Canada, "continues to cause great damage to legitimate rights holders, both of Canadian and U.S. copyright products."

To be fair, the Canadian Mounties are a lot more knowledgeable about things like horses, hats and funny pants. Copyright law, not so much.


From Engadget

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Tags: apple, canda, microsoft, piracy

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