Examining a range of topics such as treaty implementation, federal-provincial relations, the environment, international humanitarian law, and the protection of confidential information, contributors disentangle the complex processes involved in implementing international law in Canadian law. They highlight how the federal negotiation and ratification process has been opened up to the public, what is being done to give effect to custom in domestic law, and offer suggestions for improving the harmonization of international law implemented at the federal and provincial level." (From online book description)

Legal means should be found to prevent the recapture of exclusivity in works that have fallen into the public domain, whether through another intellectual property right (trademark or right in databases), property rights, other legal entitlements or technical protection, if such exclu- sivity is similar in scope or effect to that of copyright or is detrimental to non-rivalrous or concurrent uses of the public domain work.

The 1996 WIPO Treaties should be amended to prohibit a technical impediment to reproduce, publicly communicate or making available a work that has fallen into the public domain. There is no legal basis for the enforcement of technical protection measures applied to the public domain, as public domain status should guarantee the right to make re-use, modification, reproduction and communication. It could also be clarified that only technological measures protecting copyrighted works that form a substantial part of the digital content to which they apply will be protected against circumvention. Technological measures mainly protecting public domain works, with an ancillary and minimal presence of copyrighted works, should not enjoy legal protection.

This paper presents the drive towards sui generis legislation for databases as a case study that exemplifies the expansionary nature of the contemporary intellectual property policy environment. Section I places the problem in context by discussing the strategic importance of databases for the contemporary research enterprise. Focusing on what databases are, how they are used by researchers, how they are becoming increasingly central to the process of scientific research, and how sui generis legislation would disrupt these processes helps frame the subsequent discussion of particular legislative proposals. Section II outlines and evaluates the three primary justifications advanced by proponents of sui generis database legislation; the need to fill in a perceived gap caused by lack of adequate protection under U.S. copyright law, the need to harmonize U.S. law with the European Union Database Directive, and the increased risks of misappropriation brought about by technological advances. Section III turns to the legislative response in the U.S., describing the database legislation that has been introduced in the 104th, 105th, 106th, and 108th Congresses, and setting forth the principle arguments raised by proponents and opponents of the measures. Section III also contains a discussion of the draft Database Treaty that had been considered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996. Section IV provides an assessment of the validity of the claims of the proponents of database legislation by placing the database debate in a deeper political and economic context. The conclusion is reached that sui generis database legislation would hamper the goals of promoting scientific progress, and that such attempts should be rejected by policymakers.

This paper considers how the balancing of interests that has historically informed copyright policy should be applied to works that have been federally supported; it will review and assess the initial reactions to PASA from the point of view of various stakeholders, including commercial publishers, non-commercial publishers, universities, authors and researchers, and library associations; and it will consider whether PASA's purposes might be accomplished through other mechanisms.

This paper reaches the conclusion that works resulting from extramural research that has been substantially subsidized by the federal government should enter the public domain in the same manner as works resulting from intramural government research undertaken by federal employees, and that PASA provides a straightforward mechanism for reaching this result.