INDU Committee Report

List of Recommendations

Recommendation 1

That the Government of Canada establish an annual reporting system to provide statistics on the efficacy of the Canadian intellectual property enforcement system.  In particular, the reporting system should track:

Recommendation 2

That the Government of Canada enact legislation that clearly defines trademark counterfeiting as a specific criminal offence under the Trade-marks Act.

Recommendation 3

That the Government of Canada create a criminal offence for manufacturing, reproducing, importing, distributing and selling counterfeit goods.

Recommendation 4

That the Government of Canada make the manufacture, sale, and distribution of fake labels of authenticity an offence in the Criminal Code.

Recommendation 5

That the Government of Canada enact legislation clearly defining offences for commercial circumvention activities and making persons who distribute pirated digital works and who manufacture and/or distribute circumvention devices for commercial gain liable.

Recommendation 6

That the Government of Canada remove the Copyright Act from the list of excluded Acts contained in the Regulations Excluding Certain Indictable Offences from the Definition of "Designated Offence" (Proceeds of Crime).

Recommendation 7

That the Government of Canada strengthen civil remedies for counterfeiting and piracy infringements.

Recommendation 8

That the Government of Canada make provisions for the imposition of personal liability on the directors and officers of a corporation that engages in counterfeiting or piracy, and shareholder liability if it is a shell corporation.

Recommendation 9

That the Government of Canada introduce administrative monetary penalties for the importation and exportation of counterfeit and pirated goods. The penalties should be set sufficiently high to act as an effective deterrent.

Recommendation 10

That the Government of Canada increase damages and penalties under the Copyright Act.

Recommendation 11

That the Government of Canada provide the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and law enforcement officials with the express authority to target, detain, seize, and destroy counterfeit and pirated goods on their own initiative and in accordance with due process and Canadian law. The CBSA should also implement policies promoting the detection of such goods, such as mandatory reporting of brand information with shipments.

Recommendation 12

That the Government of Canada formalize intelligence sharing between the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP.

Recommendation 13

That the Government of Canada amend the RCMP/Department of Justice Copyright Enforcement Policy to target both piracy and counterfeiting, and to place a higher priority on piracy and counterfeiting activities at the retail level.

Recommendation 14

That the Government of Canada provide the RCMP and the Department of Justice with adequate resources to effectively address counterfeiting and piracy.

Recommendation 15

That the Government of Canada provide Health Canada officials with sufficient resources to investigate counterfeit food and drug complaints.

Recommendation 16

That the Government of Canada immediately encourage prosecutors to seek more significant penalties for counterfeiting and piracy violations, including imprisonment.

Recommendation 17

That the Government of Canada ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Recommendation 18

That the Government of Canada make provisions for the release of information and samples to intellectual property rights holders for the purposes of determining whether detained goods are counterfeit or pirated and enabling intellectual property rights holders to exercise civil remedies.

Recommendation 19

That the Government of Canada establish an Intellectual Property Crime Task Force, a partnership between government and industry, composed of police officers, customs officers, and federal prosecutors to work with intellectual property business leaders in order to guide and coordinate anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy efforts in Canada.