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innovation, in an effort to further at- tract investment and high-paying jobs to this country's growing knowledge- based economy." Sotiriadis notes, however, that he is not aware that anything has yet resulted from the hearings in terms of the Trade- marks Act and the Copyright Act. One change the government did make in 2007 was to move movie piracy laws out of the realm of the Copyright Act, placing them under the Criminal Code. Previous copyright laws were federal and had to be enforced by the RCMP, says Wendy Noss, executive di- rector and former general counsel for the Canadian Motion Picture Distribu- tors Association. For cities with their own police forces, it was rare to see little more than banning someone from a theatre when they were caught taping a movie. Along with the new legislation all mov- ies shown in theatres in Canada have watermarks. This means when a movie is illegally filmed, no mater where it is sold in the world, authorities can trace it back to the theatre it was filmed in. The CMPDA represents the six larg- est distributors in Canada: Sony, Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, and Disney. At the time the law was passed, 20 to 25 per cent of all pirated movies from the companies the CMP- DA represent, came from Canada. The first conviction under the new Criminal Code offence was of a Calgary man last November. Since his arrest, no cam- corded movies have been traced back to Calgary theatres. Noss wouldn't say the arrested man was the source of all of the camcorded movies from Calgary or if the law acted as a deterrent to other piraters. Robert MacDonald, a partner with Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in Ottawa, says Canada is negotiating an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement with the U.S., the European Union, and several other countries. According to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, discussion on the proposed "anti-counterfeiting trade agreement" continued in Tokyo on Oct. 8 and 9, 2008, with participants reaffirming their goal to "combat global infringements ntitled-6 1 of intellectual property rights, particu- larly in the context of counterfeiting and piracy, by increasing international co-operation, strengthening the frame- work of practices that contribute to ef- fective enforcement, and strengthening relevant IPR enforcement measures themselves." During the November 2008 speech from the throne, the federal govern- ment vowed to bring further IP protec- tion measures, a move supported by the Canadian Intellectual Property Coun- sel.The IBA issued several guidelines at the end of its report that it says could be "implemented on a national or in- ternational level to fight counterfeiting and piracy more effectively." These in- clude the introduction of legislative or policy revisions; collaboration of public authorities and private organizations to tackle counterfeiting and piracy more intellectual property CONFIDENCE & CARE Discover why many of the world's most original thinkers rely on Bereskin & Parr for IP guidance. One of Canada's leading intellectual property law firms, we combine depth of expertise with a dedication to tailored service that builds lasting trust. www.bereskinparr.com 1.888.364.7311 TORONTO MISSISS A UG A WA TERLOO MONTRÉ A L www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JANU AR Y 2009 53 7/30/08 11:46:04 AM