Post Tagged with: "private copying"

Broken record by Tomi Tirkkonen (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/9GZZxM

Broken Record: Why the Music Industry’s Secret Plan for iPhone Taxes, Internet Tracking and Content Blocking is Off-Key

The long-awaited Canadian copyright review is set to kick off hearings next week as a House of Commons committee embarks on a year-long process that will hear from a wide range of stakeholders. My Globe and Mail op-ed notes that according to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, however, one stakeholder – the Canadian Music Policy Coalition, an umbrella group representing 17 music associations – got an early start on the review process last fall by quietly submitting a 30-page reform proposal to government officials.

April 11, 2018 — 7 comments — Columns

Canadian Government Announces Plans To Block Copyright Levy on MicroSD Cards

The Canadian government announced yesterday that it will use its regulation-making power to block the attempt to apply the private copying levy to MicroSD cards. I noted last November that it had this power to stop a Copyright Board hearing into the matter and that the Canadian Private Copying Collective […]

July 4, 2012 — 6 comments — News

Telecom and Tech Coalition Calls on Government To Stop MicroSD Card Levy

The Wire Report reports that a coalition of telecom and technology companies that includes Telus and RIM have written to Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Christian Paradis to ask that cabinet implement a regulation to exempt the memory cards from the private copying levy. The Copyright Act gives cabinet the right to issue such exemptions. I wrote about this issue last November, asking whether the government would be willing to step in.

Interestingly, the article quotes David Basskin of the Canadian Private Copying Collective, who says that it would be unfair for the government to stop the process before the Copyright Board of Canada has heard the case. Basskin states “it’s manifestly unfair. We have a solid case to make, and we look forward to making it. The matter is, as you might say, ‘before the courts.’ The Copyright Board has the power of a court.”

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February 20, 2012 — 8 comments — News

Will the Government Take Action Against the Memory Card Tax?

ACTRA is in Ottawa this week for a two-day lobby campaign on issues such as cultural funding and copyright. The group will undoubtedly focus on extending the private copying levy to iPods, an issue it has raised in the past. While there is seemingly no prospect of extending the levy to iPods, the question now is whether the government is prepared to take action against the plan to extend it to memory cards.

The Copyright Board of Canada recently established the timing for the hearing on extending the private copying levy to electronic memory storage devices such as SD cards. The hearing will not start until October 2012, but the time for the government to act is now. Given its opposition to the “iPod tax”, it is hard to see how it can possibly support extending the levy to SD cards and other storage devices. In fact, last year Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore specifically referenced memory cards in a debate on extending the levy:

November 3, 2011 — 30 comments — News

Copyright Board Sets Timing for Private Copying Levy

Howard Knopf reports that the Copyright Board has set the timing for the hearing on extending the private copying levy to electronic memory cards. The hearing is set for October 2012.

September 14, 2011 — 3 comments — News