Staff Briefing Note to Trade Minister Refutes US Copyright Concerns

Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Minister Mary Ng speaks with reporters, on Nov. 15, 2023 in San Francisco. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

A staff briefing note to the trade minister has dismissed a U.S. report that put Canada on a “watch list” for not protecting copyrights enough, calling the action a “political tool.”

The 2024 “Special 301 Report,“ released in April by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), looks at how well other countries protect and enforce intellectual property (IP) rights. It divides over 100 trade partners into three categories: ”Priority Watch List,“ ”Watch List,“ and ”Priority Foreign Country,” based on how serious their IP protection issues are.

“Canada remains on the Watch List in 2024,” says the report, highlighting ongoing concerns about Canada’s enforcement of IP rights, especially at the border and in combating online piracy.

Inclusion in the watch list signals the need for bilateral attention to address underlying IP problems, according to the report, including copyright protection, enforcement, or market access for U.S. businesses relying on intellectual property.

In response, an internal briefing note to Trade Minister Mary Ng obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter described Canada’s inclusion in the watch list as a “political tool to satisfy domestic U.S. stakeholders.”

“Canada does not recognize the validity of the Special 301 Report,” the briefing note said, adding that the U.S. complaint “relies primarily on industry allegations rather than empirical evidence and objective analysis.”

The report said Canada isn’t catching enough counterfeit goods at the border and that border officials lack training, which it says suggests that Canadian authorities “have yet to take full advantage of expanded ex officio powers.” It also said that rights holders are frustrated because when fake goods are seized in Canada, courts don’t give strong enough penalties to those who import, distribute, and sell them.

Despite these allegations, the briefing note to Ms. Ng said that Canada continues to “engage bilaterally and constructively on intellectual property issues with the United States.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the minister’s office for comment, but did not hear back by publication time.

Canadian authors and publishers have lost an estimated of more than $200 million in royalties since a 2012 Supreme Court ruling allowed broader use of copyrighted materials for the purpose of research or private study, according to a document analysis by Blacklock’s.

Access Copyright, a non-profit organization representing authors, publishers, and other copyright holders, has expressed concerns about gaps in Canada’s Copyright Act, saying that these gaps result in an annual loss of $21 million in copying royalties, with the situation worsened by the rapid spread of artificial intelligence.

In addition to Canada, 19 countries were included on the 2024 Watch List in the USTR report, such as Algeria, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam, and others.

Seven countries were placed on the report’s “Priority Watch List,” highlighted as having the most serious copyrights protection problems. These countries are Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Venezuela.