International trade group calls on G20 to act on piracy

An international business group is calling on the G20 to act on counterfeiting and piracy, calling it a growing global challenge costing business about $700 billion a year in lost sales.

The Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce wants the G8 and G20 leaders to commit to combating the problem in the upcoming summits in Huntsville and Toronto this week and ensure the issue is on future agendas.

“The world has been going through tough economic times,” ICC Secretary General Jean Rozwadowski told reporters before a panel discussion on the issue in Toronto Tuesday. “It’s a fragile recovery and protecting intellectual property is low-hanging fruit to make the recovery more robust.”

According to a recent report by Frontier Economics, piracy and counterfeiting is costing G20 governments more than $100 billion a year in lost tax revenues and putting 2.5 million jobs at risk. Goods ranging from luxury handbags to toothpaste and medicines are being faked, while films and music are being illegally downloaded from the Internet.

“We want the G20 to come up with a very strong position to fight this because it is a crime,” Rozwadowski said.

Canada introduced measures to step up copyright protection earlier this month, modernizing the country’s legislation for the first time in more than a decade.

Arts and creative industries contribute about $46 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product and employ about 600,000 people, James Moore, minister of Canadian heritage and official languages, said at during a luncheon speech before the panel discussion.

Moore said the new legislation, Bill C-32, will bring Canada into line with international standards and allow copyright-based industries to better compete on an international stage.

“I believe the legislation we’ve introduced reflects a fair and balanced approach that will support innovation, creativity and economic growth,” he said. “It addresses the challenges faced by copyright owners. At the same time it legitimizes many everyday activities of Canadian consumers in the digital age,” he said.

Moore warned against “radical extremists” seeking to oppose the legislation.

Moore said so far the opposition hasn’t proposed any amendments to the bill, which will be examined by a stand-alone legislative committee.

He also said copyright and piracy is not expected to be on the G20 agenda this week.