That’s right folks, our release of the 2018 – 2021 Canadian Electrical Code, which the Court Ruled against, is happily available once again.
And it’s still $60. And CSA’s version is still $180. There’s still that whopping price gap.
You’ll recall that the infamous Manson’s Law Ruling was intended to prevent any pesky competition to the Civil Service’ overpriced offerings. You’ll recall that the Federal Court of Appeals upheld Manson’s Law, and the Supreme Court declined to rescind it.
Right now, Canadian laws are privately owned by whomever drafted them.
That’s Manson’s Law. That Ruling is absurd. But it binds, like all Rulings, on all affected entities throughout the jurisdiction of the Federal Court.
So how can we re-release Knight’s Code now?
I may just order a copy out of principle.
Code…Don’t need no stinking code.
Oh ya, laws…hmmm.
I hope the movie is as good as the book. Truly electrifying. I couldn’t put it down.
LOL…ain’t that the way it always goes? A stable of high priced lawyers and no one bothered to look South of the border.
Law and regulation thereunder should never be subject to copyright. Paying money above printing and delivery costs to find out what the law is is odious.
Oh dear Lord. I feel for this guy, I really do; he’s going to get crushed by the Canadian legal system because he has run afoul of the true power holders in this country, namely the Ottawa civil service, who answer to absolutely nobody and certainly not an elected government. Maybe they’ll answer to a Liberal government but certainly not a Conservative one. Anyway.
But now he’s just out and out BEGGING for the court to grind him into paste at CSA’s behest, for acting in bad faith. This in particular just leapt out at me from the page:
“Next, we checked US copyright on the Electrical Code. It turns out that the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) somehow forgot to register copyright over this document, even while it was under litigation in Canada. Seriously. They spent well over a million dollars in Canadian Courts, arguing that they own all our electrical laws and they feverishly pointed to their registration of copyright in Canada but, amazingly, didn’t bother to lock down copyright in the US.
So we did.
As you read this, the Canadian Electrical Code is the private property of PS Knight Americas Inc in the US. ”
Copyright does not REQUIRE registration in the United States; it should be almost trivial for CSA to successfully assert a copyright claim against him there and win damages from his fresh new USA entity, while simultaneously arguing before the Canadian courts that he’s acted in bad faith with these actions.
He may as well bend over and kiss his behind goodbye. Whatever remotely slim chance he may have once had to come out of this with something, he just burned up in a fire. CSA’s going to scorch him for this with the full cooperation of the court.
None of this excuses the despicable actions of CSA or the Canadian courts in harassing & persecuting this man to the brink of destruction. He was in an awful spot from the start and the entire system was against him, and has been destined for total defeat for some time.
This is really complicated but I don’t think this is the magic formula these guys seem to think it is….
I don’t see US courts enforcing a foreign copyright that would not conform to US law. Possibly they would nullify Knight’s American copyright and allow anyone to publish CSA code; which would suit Knight just fine.
This reminds me of the “Happy Birthday” copyright. It will belong to P S Knight until the courts declare it invalid and it becomes public domain.
I don’t think he’s claiming that this will stand up; it’s really just a way of goading the CSA into further action. It’s a head fake.
The loophole may be that if you want to bring a suit against another entity for violating your copyright in the US, you must have registered your copyright first to collect any damages or fees. That punts the issue to whether Knight falsified his copyright registration claim knowingly and intentionally.
Ha Ha. Canadians will learn that the courts are just another part of the State. You’ve voted to be ruled by the administrative/bureaucratic State for 50 years. Now, enjoy it.
I did buy a copy. Delivered to:
The Honourable Jason Kenney
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ALBERTA
9820 – 107 Street, NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5K 1E7
With gift card highlighting “Printed In USA”
Back in 2018 certain MP’s were giving away copies of this book for no charge to you. (its gov’t so I am not using the word FREE). All you had to do was send an email and request a copy. I asked for and received a copy.
Knights publishing also has an “Electrical Code Simplified” It’s like a Coles Notes to the electrical code. I would HIGHLY recommend this book. By using it as a reference, I obtained my own permits and wired my own home basement and entire cottage. Both passed ESA inspections.
What’s not been mentioned in the critical posts is that if CSA wants to challenge Knight on this, they’ll have to do it in a US court.
Not quite the same thing.
In any case, how come no one’s calling this ‘The Knight’s Gambit’? Low hanging fruit? 😉
Do I recall correctly that the worst of this happened while the federal Conservatives were in power?
This whole mess got started when the Conservatives were in power, and he tried reaching out to the Conservatives up to and including the minister responsible for CSA. He got completely brushed off. The attitude of the Conservative government towards it was clearly, “CSA isn’t worth our time to deal with so if we remain ignorant of what it’s doing then we can deny ever knowing anything about it.” It was a battle that the Conservatives simply chose not to fight. Like many others during their term.
I know. My question was rhetorical.
I used the Knight books for years and when I found out the mess at the CSA and with statute copyright ownership, I wrote to my MP and Stephen Harper.
Brushed off by both. Hence my hostility to the Conservative party and Harper. Useless, lazy and cowardly.