The Canadian Supreme Court this morning dismissed an application to hear an appeal of last December's Federal Court of Appeal decision involving the private copying levy and its application to MP3 players such as the Apple iPod. The decision means that the December decision stands, which affirms the legality of the private copying levy but drops its application to the iPod. It also means that there remains considerable uncertainty around the levy and the legality of making personal copies to devices such as the iPod.
The government had previously indicated that it plans to consult the public on the private copying levy, which has generated more than $120 million for the industry and artists over the past five years. That consultation just became a lot more urgent.
As I understand it, the Copyright Act gives me the right to legitimately make copies of copyrighted material that I’ve purchased for personal use. It’s mute on the issue of how those copies are made and to what media. I’m confused as to how dropping the application of the private copying levy for iPods could make using it “illegal”. Is there something in the private copying levy legislation that restricts copying to properly “levy-ed” media?
P2P and my hard drive?
Is P2P now illegal because a computer hard drive is not “blank media”?