CRIA Files Appeal In Canadian Uploading Case

Cowards Anonymous writes "Not a big surprise really, according to this article, the Canadian Recording Industry Association has filed an appeal of last month's court decision that said ISPs couldn't be forced to reveal the identities of file uploaders. The CRIA argues that current copyright law doesn't allow Canadians to download and freely copy songs from the internet. They claim that the judge in last month's ruling '... made serious and reviewable errors of law, made overriding and palpable errors in his assessment of the factual record before him, and, in the end, purported to exercise his discretion on improper and irrelevant bases, and in a manner of excess of his jurisdiction.' Meanwhile, Heritage Minister Helene Scherrer wants the federal govt. to ratify a couple of international treaties that protect the ownership of copyrighted materials. If signed they would give the CRIA's case more legal weight."

Comments

CD-R Tax?

[jafuser]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all CD-Rs taxed in Canada to compensate copyright holders?

Re:CD-R Tax?

[forn28]

Yes we pay a tax on all media able to contain MP3 or copied music (tape, CDR, hard drive, etc) The hole in the law was made by the lawmaker themselves!! Remove the levy on media and reinforced the law or touch nothing!

Copying for Personal Use OK

[Mikkeles]

'The CRIA argues that current copyright law doesn't allow Canadians to download and freely copy songs from the internet.'

Part VIII of the Copyright Act would appear to disagree:

Copying for Private Use

80. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the act of reproducing all or any substantial part of

(a) a musical work embodied in a sound recording,

(b) a performer's performance of a musical work embodied in a sound recording, or

(c) a sound recording in which a musical work, or a performer's performance of a musical work, is embodied

onto an audio recording medium for the private use of the person who makes the copy does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the musical work, the performer's performance or the sound recording.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the act described in that subsection is done for the purpose of doing any of the following in relation to any of the things referred to in paragraphs (1)(a) to (c):

(a) selling or renting out, or by way of trade exposing or offering for sale or rental;

(b) distributing, whether or not for the purpose of trade;

(c) communicating to the public by telecommunication; or

(d) performing, or causing to be performed, in public.

I think, however, that uploading would count as distribution.
More information here, for example.

Changing the Law won't matter...

[C_To]

The judge ruled that the evidence provided from the CRIA's experts (MediaSentry) was inconclusive to provide statistics of actual copyright infringement. Essentially if the item is shared, it doesn't mean people have downloaded it. It also doesn't mean they got what they expected when they downloaded either.

Changing Canada's copyright laws will not change the fact that such evidence was found to be insufficient for cause of copyright infringement. It was even found the evidence and information provided from MediaSentry was heresay.