MP3 levy overturned by appeals court

The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) yesterday repealed a July 19, 2007 Copyright Board of Canada decision certifying a levy to be placed on MP3 players, including iPods and cellular phones. Although the ruling could save consumers up to $75 on MP3 player purchases, it also raises questions about the legality of music copying. " means that Canadians who copy music from their CDs to their iPods are not covered by the exception and thus arguably infringe copyright," blogged Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. "Industry Minister Jim Prentice...must decide whether he amend the law by creating a clear, uncompensated exception to format shift (as the United Kingdom has just proposed) or leave millions of Canadians in legal limbo." The legality of music copying implied by the levy has been an issue for some time. The Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) filed the tariff application, but in September the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), a member of the CPCC, submitted documents to the FCA opposing an iPod levy on the grounds that it permitted file-sharing. "he Board has stated...on several occasions that the Private Copying regime legalizes copying for the private use of the person making the copy, regardless of whether the source is non-infringing or not. Therefore, according to the Board, downloading an infringing track from the Internet is not infringing, as long as the downloaded copy is made onto an ‘audio recording medium'," wrote CRIA president Graham Henderson in an affidavit to the FCA in September. The FCA took less than 24 hours to rule on the appeal. "The Copyright Board erred in law when it concluded that it has the legal authority to certify the tariff that the CPCC has proposed for 2008-2009 on digital audio recorders." While the CPCC could still appeal the ruling, the speed of the ruling suggests conclusiveness. Howard Knopf, an intellectual property lawyer with Ottawa's Macera & Jarzyna LLP and counsel for one of the appellants the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), noted in his blog that, "The reasons are very brief. The Court was very decisive.""There is no doubt that the rapidity in which the decision was rendered demonstrates the strength of that decision by the courts. We certainly hope that this decision will bring this issue to a close once and for all," added RCC president Diane Brisebois in a release. "This has been a very long battle, but a necessary one." Fallout from the ruling could have implications beyond this particular issue. Should the industry minister intervene as Geist suggests, his actions could be seen to foreshadow the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act that are expected to be tabled in parliament next month.

MP3 levy overturned by appeals court

Broadcast | January 11, 2008

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us