Post Tagged with: "Private CopyingCopyright Microsite – Canadian CopyrightCopyright Microsite – Music Industry"

Copyright Board Issues Online Music Decision

The Copyright Board of Canada this afternoon issued its much-anticipated decision involving online music services.  The decision sets a tariff for the online music services to be paid for the reproduction of music.  I blogged about the hearings in the fall, which pitted the CMRRA against CRIA and the online music services. 

The Copyright Board was asked to choose between two benchmarks in establishing the tariff.  CMRRA wanted to use the recent ringtone decision as the starting point, while CRIA argued that traditional CDs served as the more appropriate starting point.  The Board sided with CRIA, ultimately arriving at a tariff of 7.9 percent of the retail price per "permanent" download (ie. a download from Apple iTunes) with a minimum payment of 5.3 cents per download. Note that CRIA also sought to become a sub-licensee of the CMRRA repertiore, but the Board rejected that request.

The decision also includes some important language with respect to private copying and DRM. 

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March 16, 2007 18 comments News

Bill C-60 and Private Copying

While Bill C-60 is history, a specific provision involving private copying merits a brief comment.  The bill's approach to anti-circumvention provisions was generally that circumvention of a TPM was only an infringement where the purpose was to infringe copyright.  There was, however, a notable exception for private copying.  In other words, if you defeated the encryption on a copy-control CD for the purposes of making a private copy, that act would constitute infringement, even if the copying itself was lawful.

The presumed rationale behind this exception was that the private copying levy is supposedly linked to actual copying.  Supporters of the provision argue that the levy can go up or down, depending on that copying.  Assuming a world of ubiquitous copy-controls (that actually work), the levy would decrease to zero since there would be no private copying at all.

 

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March 9, 2006 5 comments News

The CRIA Pledge

Today's Sunday Star contains an important letter to the editor from Graham Henderson, President of the Canadian Recording Industry Association.  Responding to concern that the exculsion of the iPod from the private copying system would lead to liability for Canadians who copy their own CDs to their iPods, Henderson pledges […]

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August 7, 2005 2 comments News

SCC Private Copying Leave Decision on Thursday

The Supreme Court of Canada today announced that it will release its leave to appeal decision in the private copying case on Thursday morning. The case generated significant attention last December when the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the legality of the private copying system but struck down its application […]

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July 25, 2005 1 comment News

More on the Private Copying Decision

Professor Geist provides additional commentary to the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen on the Copyright Board's private copying decision, focusing on the decision to keep tariffs static for blank CDs as well as the impact on peer-to-peer file sharing. see: MP3 Players Hit With New Tax also see: True Extent […]

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December 13, 2003 Comments are Disabled News