Think tank's approach to Hollywood: Copy that

Source: Globe and Mail

One of Canada's most respected research organizations has a black eye after being forced to withdraw three reports on copyright and intellectual property because they contained plagiarized information from a study by a U.S. lobby group for the entertainment industry.

The Conference Board of Canada said it recalled the reports Thursday after an internal investigation showed that they relied too heavily on – and included entire paragraphs lifted from – a document produced by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).

As a result, the IIPA and Conference Board reports were similarly critical of Canada's failure to update its copyright legislation and ratify international intellectual property treaties. The two reports proposed the same solutions for the role Internet service providers should play in combatting piracy, and they both suggested harsher penalties for anyone found to be operating services that allow free sharing of files.

The recall represents an about-face for the Conference Board, which initially stood behind its research after University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist on Monday accused the organization of cribbing from the IIPA in its report, “Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Economy.”

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/think-tanks-approach-to-hollywood-copy-that/article1158376/

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Copyright board plagiarized material.

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