Industry Committee Report Calling For Federal Government Action on Counterfeiting and Piracy Welcomed by Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network

Ottawa - June 21, 2007

The Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network (CACN) today applauded an Industry, Science and Technology Committee report entitled "Counterfeiting and Piracy are Theft," and urged the federal government to act quickly on the Committee's recommendations. The Parliamentary Committee recommended strong measures against counterfeiting and piracy.

"The report boldly and unambiguously reinforces the need for the government to take proactive steps against criminal activities that cause billions of dollars in economic losses, feed money to organized crime, and pose a significant threat to the personal health and safety of Canadians," says Doug Geralde, Chair, CACN, and Director, Audits & Investigations, CSA Group.

Noting the report's unanimous, all-party support, Geralde adds, "It's heartening to see that Parliamentarians can set aside their partisan differences to respond so effectively to protect Canadians and battle counterfeiting and piracy. We thank the Committee's Chair and Vice-Chair for their inclusive, non-partisan leadership in making this happen."

The report makes 19 recommendations, among them:

• New criminal provisions including legislation making it an offence to manufacture, reproduce, import, distribute and sell counterfeit goods.
• Stronger civil remedies for counterfeiting and piracy infringements.
• Administrative monetary penalties for importing and exporting counterfeit and pirated goods.
• Legislation imposing liability on individuals who distribute pirated digital works and who manufacture and/or distribute circumvention devices for commercial gain.
• Canada Border Services Agency and law enforcement authorization to target, detain, seize, and destroy counterfeit and pirated goods on their own initiative.
• The provision of adequate resources to the RCMP and Department of Justice to effectively address counterfeiting and piracy.
• Ratification of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
• The establishment of an Intellectual Property Crime Task Force composed of police officers, customs officers and federal prosecutors to work with intellectual property business leaders.

"Canadians, through their elected representatives in Parliament, are clearly saying that the time for research, study and talk is over," says Carol Osmond, vice chair, CACN and senior policy advisor to I.E.Canada, the Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters, echoing the words of the Hon. Robert Thibault (West Nova, Lib.) when he told the Committee that "the only demand for research that we've heard is from researchers."

The report's comprehensive recommendations are consistent with those of a separate report on counterfeiting and piracy issued earlier this month by Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU).

It is also the fourth time in recent years that a Parliamentary committee has unanimously called upon the Government to ratify the WIPO treaties, including previous calls by the Heritage Committee.

With clear direction in hand from industry and Parliament, the CACN is urging the Government to use the time provided by Parliament's summer recess to develop legislation based on both committees' reports.

"We call upon the federal Government to move quickly and decisively on these comprehensive recommendations," Osmond remarks.

Yesterday's report comes about a week after a Conference Board of Canada report card graded Canada 'D' for innovation and placed this country 14th out of 17 OECD nations measured.

The Industry Committee report explicitly recognized that counterfeiting and piracy were a critical drain on Canada's innovative capacity. The Committee noted that the adequate enforcement of IP rights "facilitate and encourage the pursuit of innovation" and IP rights are the "only industrial tool that rewards the innovator commensurate with the innovation's commercial prospects."

Michael Murphy, Executive Vice President Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, agreed wholeheartedly with the Committee's recommendations: "Canada's woefully inadequate protection of intellectual property is an enormous disincentive to innovate. By protecting innovators from theft, tougher IP laws and enforcement will strengthen Canada's ability to compete and prosper."

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade affirmed this view in a recent statement, noting that "The competitiveness of Canadian firms … often depends on their ability to protect their intellectual assets and enforce their rights."

"The Department's views reflect the international dimension of Canada's poor performance on counterfeiting and piracy," says Graham Henderson, President of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, and a member organization of the CACN Steering Committee. "Implementing the committees' recommendations will not only deliver economic benefits within Canada, but will put us on a stronger footing with our major trading partners."

About CACN
The Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network (CACN) is a non-profit coalition of stakeholders that has united in the fight against product counterfeiting and copyright piracy in Canada and internationally. Members include broad-based organizations and companies from a range of industries as well as law firms representing intellectual property rights holders. CACN's mission is to significantly reduce and ultimately eliminate the manufacture, importation, distribution and sale of counterfeit products in Canada and abroad through public education, training of law enforcement, and lobbying for legislative change and increased resources. CACN can be found online at www.cacn.ca