James Delahunty
17 Dec 2004 9:46
A Canadian judge today ruled that a levy imposed on MP3 players that would be distributed to record labels and other copyright holders to compensate for revenue lost due to P2P use was illegal. The case was brought before the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal after the Copyright Board of Canada began demanding that player manufacturers cough up $2 for each player with a capacity of less than 1GB, $15 for 1-10GB players and $25 for devices with storage of more than 10GB in December 2003. "While the Copyright Board of Canada is indeed permitted by Canada's Copyright Act to tax sales of blank media, the terms of the Act do not allow it to levy a similar fee from MP3 player makers," Mr Justice Marc Noël said.
Judge Noël said he understood the Boards need to compensate artists and Copyright holders for potential lost revenue by distributing the levies it receives from sales of blank media, but the authority to impose a levy on an MP3 player still has to be found in the Act. The ruling will lead to the prices for mp3 players dropping dramatically. However it seems likely that organizations such as the Canadian Private Copying Collective, which distributes the proceeds of the levies to artists and recording companies, are pondering whether to take the case to Canada's Supreme Court in a bid to have Judge Noël's ruling overturned. At least, they will attempt to lobby the Canadian Government to amend the Copyright Act to take MP3 players and other such devices into account.
Source:
The Register