Group recommends Special 301 against Canada

CBC reports that the International Intellectual Property Alliance has filed a report to the US Trade Representative put Canada on the US's priority watch list, together with Russia and China, as the biggest infringer of US intellectual property rights. It argues that Canada has not kept its copyright law up to date with technological developments, nor has it met the minimum standards to the WIPO Copyright Treaties, signed in 1996. Although Canada is in the middle of reforming its copyright, the Group said

"In 2007, parliamentary leadership and the government, at its highest levels, acknowledged many of these deficiencies and the government listed copyright reform among its top legislative priorities. But these encouraging statements have not yet evolved into anything more concrete."

The IPKat speculates that the link between Canada's geographical position and damage to US IPRs must be mere coincidence...