Post Tagged with: "private copying"

Federal Court of Appeal Strikes Down CRIA Memorandum

I've posted several entries on the ongoing attempt by CRIA to intervene in the Federal Court of Appeal review of the Copyright Board's iPod levy decision. Last week, I noted that the CPCC asked the court strike down the CRIA intervention on the grounds that it blatantly disregarded the court's […]

November 23, 2007 — 11 comments — News

CPCC Moves to Strike CRIA Intervention in iPod Levy Case

Earlier this week, I noted that CRIA has submitted its brief in the iPod levy case and that it appeared to ignore the judge's ruling that it limit its argument to the core issue before the court. Apparently, I was not the only one to notice the similarity between CRIA's initial request to intervene and this most recent brief. The CPCC has wasted no time in submitting its own motion to the Federal Court of Appeal asking it to strike out the entire brief. According to the CPCC:

"An examination of CRIA's Memorandum shows that it is nothing more than a condensed version of the representations contained in its motion to intervene. By addressing the seven issues identified in its motion CRIA has blatantly disregarded the ruling of this Court, which ordered that 'CRIA shall address only the three major issues before this Court…"

The CPCC is also furious that CRIA raised issues about the impact of P2P downloading and compliance with the Berne Convention, when there is no evidence on those issues before the court.

November 16, 2007 — 8 comments — News

CRIA Sings Same Song in Private Copying Submission

Readers of this blog will recall that CRIA broke from the Canadian Private Copying Collective earlier this fall by seeking leave to intervene in a federal court case where it will oppose the expansion of the private copying levy. CRIA identified seven objections to the Copyright Board's iPod levy decision, […]

November 13, 2007 — 7 comments — News

Gov’t Commissioned Study Finds P2P Downloaders Buy More Music

A newly study commissioned by Industry Canada, which includes some of the most extensive surveying to date of the Canadian population on music purchasing habits, finds what many have long suspected (though CRIA has denied) – there is a positive correlation between peer-to-peer downloading and CD purchasing. The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study For Industry Canada was conducted collaboratively by two professors from the University of London, Industry Canada, and Decima Research, who surveyed over 2,000 Canadians on their music downloading and purchasing habits. The authors believe this is the first ever empirical study to employ representative microeconomic data.

The two key findings:

When assessing the P2P downloading population, there was "a strong positive relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchasing. That is, among Canadians actually engaged in it, P2P file sharing increases CD purchases." The study estimates that 12 additional P2P downloads per month increases music purchasing by 0.44 CDs per year.
When viewed in the aggreggate (ie. the entire Canadian population), there is no direct relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchases in Canada. According to the study authors, "the analysis of the entire Canadian population does not uncover either a positive or negative relationship between the number of files downloaded from P2P networks and CDs purchased. That is, we find no direct evidence to suggest that the net effect of P2P file sharing on CD purchasing is either positive or negative for Canada as a whole."

Bear in mind, this is not a study with a particular desired outcome or sponsor – it is the government commissioning independent research to help it make better policy decisions. The results of that research, consistent with earlier Canadian Heritage sponsored study by Shelley Stein-Sacks that refused to blame P2P for the industry's problems, is that P2P actually increases CD sales since those that download also tend to buy more music.

November 2, 2007 — 187 comments — News

CRIA Granted Leave to Intervene in iPod Levy Case But Court Doesn’t Want To Hear About File Sharing

The Federal Court of Appeal on Friday granted CRIA's request to intervene in the private copying/iPod levy judicial review, a case that openly reveals the divisions between CRIA and the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CRIA is on the board of CPCC but the CPCC objected to its intervention request). CRIA's Graham Henderson identified seven objections to the Copyright Board decision:

October 29, 2007 — 3 comments — News