Yesterday’s Canadian Copyright Board ruling on the payment of fees on new
blank media such as iPods and blank CD as got some notice on some popular
US blogs. There
are two separate cases at play, the ruling of yesterday by the Copyright Board
as well as another from 1999 which has been appealed out of the Copyright Board
to superior courts on payment of tariffs through ISPs for sharing music on the
internet. Here are some background documents on both matters:
- The Copyright
Board ruling on the tariff on blank digital media for recording music dated
12 December 2003. Oddly it does not appear to cover personal computer hard
drives where most downloaded music resides; - The Copyright
Board ruling on the tariff on digital sharing of music via the internet
dated 27 October 1999; - The Federal
Court of Appeal ruling dated 1 May 2002, the judicial review (narrower, not
an appeal) of the Copyright Board ruling, above, on ISPs and copyright. Have a
look around paragraphs 179 to 192 for the point of the ruling; and - A
Supreme Court of Canada backgrounder on the appeal from the Federal Court of
Appeal judicial review. The oral arguments in this appeal were heard on 3
December 2003. The ruling is pending.
Make sense? With any luck the
Supreme Court will make a ruling that will make practical sense, as I think the
Copyright Board has on the tariff for blank digital media. Unfortunately, it is
an appeal from a judicial review of an administrative tribunal order. Lots of
procedural issues to muddy to substance.