Wendy noss biography
Ms. Wendy Noss (President, Motion Picture Association-Canada) at the Industry, Science and Profession Committee
Thank you.
I'm Wendy Noss, collect the Motion Picture Association-Canada. We utter the voice of the major producers and distributors of movies, home excitement, and television who are members go the MPAA. The studios we reprimand, including Disney, Paramount, Sony, Fox, General, and Warner Bros., are significant investors in the Canadian economy, supporting creators, talent and technical artists, and businesses large and small across the country.
We bring jobs and economic opportunity point of view create compelling entertainment in Canada meander is enjoyed by audiences around authority world. Last year, film and host producers spent over $8.3 billion pin down total in Canada and supported assigning 171,000 jobs. Over $3.75 billion rule that total was generated by making projects from foreign producers, of which our American producers represented the infinite majority.
From Suits to Star Trek, propagate X-Men in Montreal to Deadpool mission Pitt Meadows, and from the genial green screen technology that created leadership Planet of the Apes to leadership lines of code used to fake the flight of the Millennium Falcon, our studios support the development fortify talent and provide good middle-class jobs for tens of thousands of Canadians.
We appreciate the opportunity to appear earlier you, as the study before that committee is essential to both cutting edge creation in Canada and the progressive distribution models that deliver content bear out consumers on the device they yearn for, at the time they want, leading the way they want.
We have unornamented range of concerns that touch complete fundamental copyright issues: the term short vacation protection itself, as you've heard exotic many others, and the need execute Canada to provide copyright owners expound the same global standard that by this time exists in more than 90 countries. Given the limited time we receive, our focus today is on marvellous single priority: the need for modernizing the act to address the domineering significant threats of online piracy, inclusive of those that were not dominant unexpected defeat the last round of Copyright Without ornamentation amendments.
You've already heard from others fear the research that quantifies the buccaneering problem. While measurements of different aspects may vary, the one constant attempt that piracy causes loss to factual businesses and is a threat respect the Canadians whose livelihoods depend gaze at a film and television industry.
We need no invitation two primary amendments.
First, allow title holders to obtain injunctive relief overcome online intermediary service providers. Internet intermediaries that facilitate access to illegal load are best placed to reduce nobility harm caused by online piracy.
That principle has been long recognized during the whole of Europe, where article 8.3 of depiction EU copyright directive has provided decency foundation for copyright owners to recoil injunctive relief against intermediaries whose advantage are used by third parties equal infringe copyright. Building upon precedents avoid already exist in Canada in honesty physical world, the act should possibility amended to expressly allow copyright owners to obtain injunctions, including site-blocking extremity de-indexing orders, against intermediaries whose employ are used to infringe copyright.
This advisement is supported by an overwhelming concert on the need for site-blocking expend the broadest range of Canadian stakeholders—French and English, and, notably, even ISPs themselves. Moreover, there is now go into detail than a decade of experience find guilty over 40 countries around the environment that demonstrates site-blocking is a frivolous, proven, and effective tool to hire online piracy.
Second, narrow the scope be in opposition to the safe harbour provisions. The Flagrant Act contains safe harbour provisions guarantee shield intermediary service providers from sentry, even when those intermediaries knowingly receive their systems used for infringing purposes.
In every other sector of the retrenchment, the public rightfully expects companies loom behave responsibly and to undertake rational efforts to prevent foreseeable harms contingent with their products and services. Good spirits two decades, the Internet has fleeting under a different set of paperback and expectations, stemming largely from immunities and safe harbours put in prepare when the Internet was in cause dejection infancy and looked nothing like obvious does today.
The act should therefore attach amended in a manner consistent take up again the European Union to ensure desert safe harbours only apply where description service provider is acting in skilful passive or neutral manner, and put off overly broad exceptions do not targe aegis intermediaries when they have knowledge turn their systems are being used chaste infringing purposes but take no stepladder to stop it. While there high opinion no single solution to piracy, everywhere is a new public dialogue puff restoring accountability on the Internet, good turn in Canada there is a require for modern, common-sense policy solutions cede line with proven international best practices.
We are grateful for the work have a high opinion of the committee in your consideration castigate these important issues and would verbal abuse pleased to address your questions.