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Bill C-59 Unanimously Passed; Camcorders in Movie Theatres a Criminal Code Offence |
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Written by Staff
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Thursday, 14 June 2007 |
The Harper Conservative government today announced the unanimous and swift passing into law of Bill C-59, an Act to Amend the Criminal Code as it applies to the unauthorized recording of a movie with personal camcorders.
In introducing the bill for its first reading on the House of Commons on Wednesday, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson made an impassioned speech about copyright laws in Canada which in its present form can levy fines of up to $1 million dollars and up to five years in prison for anyone convicted of stealing copyright material with the intention of selling that material.
Over the last several months however, pressure and threats from the American film industry as well as U.S. politicians have forced Canadian politicians to address the issue as quickly as possible especially after the U.S. placed Canada on a United States government watch list for our lax enforcement of intellectual property rights. Other nations on this dubious list include Russia, the Philippines, Lebanon and China.
In early May the U.S.-based Warner Brothers announced a cancellation in all movie preview screenings in Canada until the Harper government cracked down on rampant piracy. Minister Nicholson added that Canada's lack of piracy law enforcement has made this country "an attractive venue for camcording" with pirated movies being placed immediately on the world black market.
Nicholson went on to caution that the swift passing of Bill C-59 may be interpreted by some as bowing to the U.S. motion picture industry not to mention the American government but he added that the issue is "important to Canadians as well". The Justice Minister also stated that the main purpose for amending the Criminal Code instead of the existing Copyright Act is to "ensure that local police and not merely the RCMP are engaged in an effort to stop camcording".
Bill C-59 which is now on its way to the Senate for debate, proposes two new offences in the Criminal Code:
Offence 1 - the recording of a movie in a movie theatre without the consent of the theatre manager
Offence 2 - the recording of a movie in a movie theatre without the consent of the theatre manager for the purpose of selling, renting, or other commercial distribution of a copy of the recorded movie. |
