March 6, 2009 by Daniel Pearlman
Daniel Pearlman is a first year law student at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Legal Values: Challenges in Intellectual Property course
Movie piracy is a widely debated IP issue. While many would agree that movie piracy is a problem, much controversy surrounds both the extent of movie piracy, and how it ought to be addressed. In this commentary I will briefly examine competing views on this issue, in order to highlight the difficulties in resolving this challenge.
The film industry’s perspective offers a useful starting point for this analysis. The Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association (CMPDA) presented evidence to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on the harms of counterfeiting and piracy. The Committee notes that in 2005, film piracy in Canada accounted for approximately $270 million in losses for the Canadian film industry. This figure illustrates the costs piracy imposes on industry. Furthermore, government has taken steps to curb this problem.
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