| Canadas MP3 fee tossed |
 |
 |
|
As desirable as bringing such devices within the ambit of [the Act] might seem, the authority for doing so still has to be found in the Act, Judge Noël said in his decision. It's a significant setback to getting remuneration for private copying, said Paul Audley, a consultant to the Canadian Private Copying Collective. The collective is a non-profit agency that collects and distributes private copying royalties to musicians, songwriters and record companies. Levies on MP3 players were expected to generate roughly CDN$5-million of the CDN$25- to CDN$30-million collected yearly from the blank media tax. Mr. Audley said the collective is considering whether to appeal the court's decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, potentially paving the way for a prolonged legal battle over the rights of musicians in a digital age. This decision now calls into question the legality of copying MP3s to iPods and other devices. By paying the tax, Canadians were granted the right to copy their music to their MP3 players. Now that the judge has declared that the MP3 players were not a recording medium, Canadians may not be allowed to copy their music to their MP3 players, if they purchased the device after December 15th. The Copyright Act clearly defines media that legally can be used for private duplication of copyrighted material and MP3 players no longer meet that criteria. However, a lawyer representing makers of MP3 players, who declined to be identified, scoffed at Mr. Audley's interpretation. If that is true, then all music-copying equipment such as CD players, computers and tape recorders are illegal. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          Add your comment
|
||||
