Wilkins Can Shut Up Now

The drone of criticism, coming from the US on Canadian copyright law is growing thicker. But under no circumstances should Canada follow the US lead on this issue. The state of copyright law in the US has become ridiculous. It's almost as though the large US media companies have decided that litigation, not sales, should be their primary source of income. There is a constant deluge of lawsuits in the states with the MPAA and RIAA suing anyone they can think of.

Don't get me wrong, artists should be able to make a living. They should be fairly compensated for their work. But, in the US they have gone far beyond anything that might be considered fair or reasonable. Public Domain has essentially ceased to exist in the U.S. with copyrights, even on works by long dead artists, extended almost forever. Fair use has nearly been done away with. New royalty fees on internet radio (fees that far exceed those paid by traditional radio) threaten to destroy internet radio in the US (or at least make it music free), and for some odd reason - if a person video tapes (or otherwise records) a program from the television that is acceptable, but if a person downloads that same program that is piracy and could get you a big fine.

Canada should look carefully at all of the issues surrounding copyright and intellectual property and come up with a set of laws that are fair and reasonable, both to artists, and to consumers and should not cave to pressure from people outside the country who really just want more money for themselves. Much of the US doesn't realize, most of the time, that Canada is a different country and has the right to make it's own laws. The US, in turn, can respond to those laws in any way that they like.

If the American movie studios want to keep their movies out of Canada, even though their claims about Canada and piracy are a load of horseshit let them. Nothing could be better for the Canadian film (not to mention television) industry than if big American studios pulled their films and programs.

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins, the U.S. Congress, the MPAA, RIAA, and the big studios have been heard from. They've made their points. It's time for them all to shut up and let Canada do things our way.