Based on recent media coverage, people unfamiliar with Canada could be forgiven for assuming that all Canadians sport pirate eye-patches while searching for counterfeit treasure. The "Canada as a piracy haven" meme has been floated with disturbing frequency in 2007 with regular claims that Canada is home to rampant music downloading, illegal movie camcording, counterfeit product purchasing, and outdated copyright laws.
These reports invariably present a distorted picture – digital music sales grew faster in Canada last year than in either the United States or Europe and music downloading on peer-to-peer sites for personal purposes is arguably compensated through a private copying levy that generates tens of millions of dollars each year. Moreover, movie camcording in Canada affects roughly three percent of Hollywood films (not 50 percent of camcorded films as initially alleged) and Canadian copyright law is consistent with international treaty obligations.
Nevertheless, the cumulative effect of the piracy coverage has left some officials humming "Blame Canada" and wondering whether the country deserves to be classified as a rogue nation when it comes to intellectual property matters.
Last week, counterfeiting was in the spotlight as Canadian Recording Industry Association President Graham Henderson delivered a major address on the issue on behalf of the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network. In conjunction with the speech, the Pollara polling firm released the results of a survey conducted for the CACN that found that 28 percent of Canadians have knowingly purchased counterfeit products.
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