Yesterday's Canadian Copyright Board ruling on the payment of fees on new blank media such as iPods and blank CD as got some notice on some popular US blogs. There are two separate cases at play, the ruling of yesterday by the Copyright Board as well as another from 1999 which has been appealed out of the Copyright Board to superior courts on payment of tariffs through ISPs for sharing music on the internet. Here are some background documents on both matters:
- The Copyright Board ruling on the tariff on blank digital media for recording music dated 12 December 2003. Oddly it does not appear to cover personal computer hard drives where most downloaded music resides;
- The Copyright Board ruling on the tariff on digital sharing of music via the internet dated 27 October 1999;
- The Federal Court of Appeal ruling dated 1 May 2002, the judicial review (narrower, not an appeal) of the Copyright Board ruling, above, on ISPs and copyright. Have a look around paragraphs 179 to 192 for the point of the ruling; and
- A Supreme Court of Canada backgrounder on the appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal judicial review. The oral arguments in this appeal were heard on 3 December 2003. The ruling is pending.
Comments
Ben - December 14, 2003 4:16 AM
Is there any way you could simply sum up what that all means for us folks that are too lazy to read all of those decisions? Basically, is it legal for Canadians to share and/or download music based on what has been decided too far?
Ben - December 14, 2003 4:16 AM
I mean so far. Damn beer.
Alan - December 14, 2003 9:11 AM
It is legal to possess digital copies of music for private purposes (download) and from now on the mediums of those copies are subject to extra chrages which are a tariff paid by manufacturers to SOCAN which distributes money to artists. It is the intention of the Copyright Board to impose a similar tariff on ISPs for the transfer of digital music (uploading) but the ISPs have banded together and successfully had the Federal Court overturn that ruling on the basis that attaching the fee to the ISP is problematic and does not reflect the real flow of music content on the web. The Supremes shall make the ruling and with any luck will co-ordinate the two sides of the issue sensibly. I would suggest that an order of a tribunal which has been overturned on judical review which is itself subject to pending order of the Supreme Court of Canada is a matter in legal flux to the point it is at this moment unenforceable. If the Supreme Court of Canada were to uphold the tariff payable at the ISP (which I think makes total sense) the matter could be concluded, uploading the right to use copyright material for a fee. I for one would welcome that structure and would pay a fee to play music I like when discussing it. I do not do it now as I am an absolute boy scout...and haven't figured out how to do it anyway.
Alan - December 14, 2003 9:12 AM
By the way - good typing for being on the ales at 4:15 in the morning. Ah, youth.
Alan - December 19, 2003 1:25 PM
More good sense from the US and Dutch courts.