It’s that time of year when we cast an eye back over the past year (probably in a vain attempt to try to predict what the New Year will bring), reflecting on important developments in global affairs–including those affecting international copyright. Last year I wrote a similar blog and it is always instructive to look back at what seemed important a year ago, and then see how things actually developed. Continue reading “Looking Back at International Copyright Developments in 2018”
The Parliamentary Committee undertaking the mandated five year review of Canada’s Copyright Act closed receipt of submissions on December 10 and its hearing of witnesses two days later. The next stage will be for the committee to digest the many submissions and hours of testimony it received and come forward with recommendations for the government to consider. Continue reading “Canadian Copyright Review: My Submission on International Site Blocking”
On my recent trip to Australia I was honoured to be asked to participate as a judge in determining the winner of the annual Kevin Lindgren prize for the best copyright presentation by an Australian law student. Named in honour of Dr. Kevin Lindgren, AM QC, former Federal Court Judge and President of the Copyright Tribunal, this year was the third year that the prize has been presented by the Copyright Society of Australia. Dr. Lindgren was there and participated as one of the three judges, along with lawyer Alida Stanley, Australian Copyright Council Board member, and yours truly. Continue reading “The Kevin Lindgren Prize for Copyright: Insights from Young IP Lawyers-To-Be in Australia”
It’s no secret that the issue of internet platform accountability—holding massive internet intermediaries such as Facebook, Youtube and Google accountable for the way in which they deal (or more to the point, do not deal) with illegal content on their services– has become a hot button issue politically in many countries. The willingness to give a free pass to these internet giants, beginning some two decades ago in order not to “stifle” innovation in the digital era, has worn thin. The old adage of “don’t blame the telephone company for obscene phone calls” doesn’t cut it anymore, especially when the platforms clearly have the ability to curate and select content to push to users according to what they think individual users prefer, to identify various attributes of content on their platforms (through mechanisms such as ContentID) and to promote or demote search results, to cite some concrete examples. Continue reading “The Push for Platform Accountability is Going Global”
Hugh Stephens Blog 