The film, TV and music industry have lobbied hard to toughen up copyright laws in North America but in both the US and Canada there is an increasing backlash against these industries as politicians, academics, consumer groups,  civil liberty campaigners and even other artists resist what are seen as increasingly draconian and riduculous 'solutions' to the creative industries' problems.

The film, TV and music industry have lobbied hard to toughen up copyright laws in North America but in both the US and Canada there is an increasing backlash against these industries as politicians, academics, consumer groups,  civil liberty campaigners and even other artists resist what are seen as increasingly draconian and riduculous 'solutions' to the creative industries' problems.

In the US, the governments own Department of Justice has slammed intellectual property legislation introduced by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers last week that would re-organize its IP enforcement structure, calling it unnecessary and counterproductive to the work it has already accomplished. "We have a current structure … that works quite effectively," Sigal Mandelker, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, told the House Judiciary subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.

And in Canada new, Industry minister Jim Prentice has backed down on tabling new copyright legislation after fierce criticism. The new digital age copyright legislation is seen as completely pro 'industry' and a 'flash mob' of outraged protesters descended on his Calgary office after he refued to answer questions on a TV show on state broadcaster CBC's service.

In particular there is growing resistance to DRM (which locks content) and against 'anti-circumvention' legislation with consumers arguing that once they have brought a piece of music they should not be restricted in how they use it. Apple are already fighting a backlash against this in Europe where music brought from iTunes is locked into Apple's iPod only. Critics have labelled the new Canadian bill as the “Canadian DMCA,” after the USA's oft criticised Digital Millennium Copyright Act as their new act contains many of the same provisions - amongst them are the laws that have enabled the US music industry to launch its well-publicized blitz of lawsuits against individuals who share files illegally.