Rich Fiscus
17 Sep 2007 18:23
The CRIA, Canada's equivalent of the RIAA, has changed their position on a copyright tax for MP3 players. Although they've been in favor of extending a levy already collected from the sale of CD-Rs and audio tapes to apply to portable music players, they've now decided to come out against the idea.
The reason is simple. The CRIA is afraid that by paying the tax, consumers would expect to get what they're paying for. While the CRIA believes such a tax only gives individuals the right to copy muisc they've already paid the music industry for, according to law professor Michael Geist the relevant case law say otherwise. Based on past court decisions, consumers would be entitled to download music from places like P2P networks for their players.
In an affadavit filed in Canada's Federal Court of Appeal challenging a decision by the Copyright Board of Canada to extend the levy to portable music players, CRIA President Graham Henderson said adoption of the levy "could potentially be interpreted to allow the copying of music files from any source - whether legitimate or illegitimate - onto any type of device ordinarily used by individuals to copy music." In other words when consumers pay for a license they'll expect to get some music to go with it.
The case will likely not be decided until next year, but in the mean time don't be surprised to hear the standard recording industry rhetoric about how file sharing is equivalent to a back alley mugging. Apparently some in the industry feel that lawsuits are a better source of profit than music licensing.
Source: Michael Geist