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"I don't think that parody is a burning issue. What bothers people these days is the issue of downloading off the Internet." — RON DIMOCK, DIMOCK STRATTON LLP he argues the battle over TPMs is lost. "People know if you try to lock this stuff up, there is some bright bunny some- where who will figure out how to decode it," he says. Access Copyright's Levy, however, takes a different approach. As she points out, also of concern is the related idea of format shifting. For example, while a publisher can't digitally lock up a physical book, Levy says the prospect of people scanning works into a digital format they could then make available online is a concern to the writers and artists who get income from her organization through its copyright licensing services. Stopping book owners from making such copies for personal use would be difficult, of course, but Levy argues the laws should protect copyright owners until alterna- tive business models — such as having publications widely available for sale in electronic form — become more viable. "I think time needs to be given to let the market deal with the user commu- nity," she says, adding she is skeptical of arguments that copyright owners should adapt to the reality of digital copying right away. "I think it would be dangerous to set policy on the basis of what people are doing." In any discussion of copyright, the issue of Canada's involvement in the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaties almost inevitably arises. Canada has signed on to the doc- ument but has yet to ratify it, something many lawyers — particularly those who act for copyright owners — argue is long overdue. "It's just good housekeeping to make sure we implement our treaty obligations," says Dimock. Levy, too, feels a law consistent with WIPO would also be good for copyright owners, particularly since, in her view, it would involve granting "making avail- able rights" exclusively to them. That is a key issue in downloading, she says, since it allows governments to go after inter- mediary web sites that facilitate online piracy of works like music and movies. Such web sites, most notably The Pirate Bay, can sometimes slip through copy- right laws by claiming they don't upload intellectual property RANGE & DEPTH One of Canada's leading intellectual property law firms, Bereskin & Parr LLP combines proven expertise with a dedication to service that has earned lasting trust from many of the world's most original thinkers. www.bereskinparr.com 1.888.364.7311 TORONTO MISSISS A UG A WA TERLOO MONTRÉA L Untitled-2 1 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com OC T O BER 2009 39 9/2/09 3:01:25 PM