It has been almost three weeks since I first passed on the news that 20th Century Fox was thinking of withholding its films from Canada because of all the rampant piracy here. Now, the Toronto Star reports that Canadian exhibitors are asking the government to prevent this by making a change to our Criminal Code:
Last week, Canada’s movie theatre owners sent a letter to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson seeking an amendment to the code that would make it a crime to record a movie in a theatre – the act of filming is not allowed, but it’s not currently a criminal offence.
“There seems to be a lack of understanding as to the severity of the situation. … We think (Nicholson) has to get up to speed on this quickly,” said Ellis Jacob, president and CEO of Cineplex Entertainment, the country’s largest movie theatre chain.
Jacob was also speaking as a member of the Canadian Motion Picture Theatre Associations, which first raised the piracy problem in 2004.
“This is something that could have a lot of effects. The biggest loss is probably to the consumer. … If people don’t come to the movies it hurts our bottom line,” said Jacob, adding that “this could eventually destroy the industry in this country.”
A spokesperson for Nicholson, who was appointed minister this month, declined to comment.
Meanwhile, in unrelated (?) news, Variety reports:
Konrad von Finckenstein, the judge who in 2004 dealt a severe blow to the Canadian music industry when he ruled that uploading and downloading music on the Internet is not copyright infringement, is the new chairman of Canada’s broadcast regulator.
I haven’t a clue whether that implies anything about the current government’s openness to enhancing our anti-piracy laws.
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