"That 20-gigabyte MP3 player going under the Christmas tree this season could soon cost 20 per cent more if the Copyright Board approves a proposed levy tomorrow on the sale of digital music devices. It could also mean new levies on recordable DVDs, removable flash memory and micro hard drives, as well as increased tariff rates on blank cassettes and recordable CDs, assuming a music-industry group called the Canadian Private Copying Collective, or CPCC, gets its way. Claude Majeau, secretary-general of the Copyright Board, confirmed yesterday that a decision on the controversial levy is to come out Friday morning.
Both the CPCC and a group of electronics manufacturers and retailers aggressively fighting the levy have been arguing their respective views since the Copyright Board began formal hearings on the matter in January. "It's the kind of decision that's likely to leave everybody unhappy," said Michael Geist, a professor of Internet law at the University of Ottawa and technology counsel for Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. "The retailers won't like it because they don't like the levy, period. Consumers won't like it because they won't be paying a fair price for the product. And copyright holders will probably feel they're not getting enough."
The CPCC already collects a levy on blank cassettes, recordable CDs and Sony minidiscs, but in May, 2002, the organization, which collects and redistributes the levy on behalf of the Canadian music industry, proposed that existing tariffs be substantially hiked and expanded to cover M3P players and other digital-memory products that carry music files. The original purpose of the levy was to compensate artists for the widespread activity of making personal copies of music that an individual already owns.
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Both the CPCC and a group of electronics manufacturers and retailers aggressively fighting the levy have been arguing their respective views since the Copyright Board began formal hearings on the matter in January. "It's the kind of decision that's likely to leave everybody unhappy," said Michael Geist, a professor of Internet law at the University of Ottawa and technology counsel for Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. "The retailers won't like it because they don't like the levy, period. Consumers won't like it because they won't be paying a fair price for the product. And copyright holders will probably feel they're not getting enough."
The CPCC already collects a levy on blank cassettes, recordable CDs and Sony minidiscs, but in May, 2002, the organization, which collects and redistributes the levy on behalf of the Canadian music industry, proposed that existing tariffs be substantially hiked and expanded to cover M3P players and other digital-memory products that carry music files. The original purpose of the levy was to compensate artists for the widespread activity of making personal copies of music that an individual already owns.
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Wi-Fi radiates an Internet connection that multiple computers within 300 feet can share at fast speeds. Wi-Fi hot spots have cropped up over the last couple of years in coffee shops, hotels and airports in bigger U.S. cities.
Some small towns, including Half Moon Bay, Calif., and Athens, Ga., have started experimenting with Wi-Fi as a way to provide relatively cheap, easy access to high-speed Internet.
The 51,000 residents of Cerritos, located 26 miles southeast of Los Angeles, have not had DSL broadband access to the Internet because the city is too far from the telephone company's central office. Cable Internet access has not been an option, either, Hylton said.
Residents in Cerritos have asked city officials to find a way to bring broadband to the city for some time.
"We're pleased that our residents will at last have an option for broadband that will be more affordable than is currently available," Hylton said.
However, the board turned down a request from a music group called the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) to impose levies on blank DVDs, removable memory cards and micro hard drives. The board also said no to higher levies on blank audio tapes, recordable CDs and MiniDiscs.
"The evidence available at this time does not clearly demonstrate that these recording media are ordinarily used by individuals for the purpose of copying music," the board said in its decision.
The federal board said the new levy will be imposed on digital audio devices with non-removable memory, such as Apple's iPod.
The imposition of the fees comes as the music industry tries to fight the growth of copied music downloaded via the Internet.
The fees levied on digital music devices include:
Up to 1 gigabyte of memory: $2;
More than 1 gigabyte up to 10 gigabytes: $15;
More than 10 gigabytes: $25.
Manufacturers and importers must pay the levies, which will most likely be passed on to consumers.
The CPCC will collect the levy and distribute it to groups representing eligible authors, performers and makers.
The copyright board is a federal organization that establishes royalties to be paid for the use of copyrighted works.
taken from here: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/12/musiclevy_031212
prevent piracy by charging more for hardware and media to burn/play the pirated music/movies?
hahahah
otherwise the person that is buying music CD and then puting the music on an mp3 player or backing them up on CDs is getting screwed.
Actually, a surcharge on an MP3 player does not make it "legal" to have copyright-infringing musinc on it. However, the "fair use" provision in U.S. copyright should allow an owner of legal music to play it on his/her own personal MP3 player (much like making a tape copy of a CD is legal under "fair use"
The MP3 format does not provide for the "content use limitations" (i.e. DRM) that the RIAA, et al, wish to enforce. That is why all the "legal downloads" are in other formats, such as .wmf. Microsoft has included these restrictions as part of their file format.
Also, the MP3 encoding/decoding is not royalty-free. It has to be licensed to be legal. Now, I am sure that the maker of the player has already done this, so it really is all about greedy people wanting to skim as much money as possible out of a popular item under the guise of law.
Billions of other people. Duh.
They deserved to get done in this blanket tax?! It doesn't really apply to me obviously as I live in the UK, but it seems pretty unfair to me.
BTW i just bought an ZEN Xtra in the good ol' U S of A!
When the hell are the lazy people in Canada going to take a stand? Oh wait, they would have to get off their EZ Boy and put down their beer.
But ya why not tax us on everything. Hell the govt in Quebec is prolly gonna be taxing us on water and thats the liberal party, same as the PM of Canada.
p.s. I don't mean the obvious money from your taxes that go to pay for procesing water either, its s seperate extra tax.
Last edited by 1018 on 13 Dec 2003 - 01:56
While uploading and distributing copyrighted music remains illegal, Canada's simple solution provides copyright holders with some compensation through existing royalty distribution channels.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34504.html
REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE OF CANADIAN MUSIC COPYRIGHTS:
If your friend makes a copy of a CD YOU bought, THAT IS OK!
If you make a copy of that same CD for that same Friend, THAT IS ILLEGAL!
How P2P Works into that is untested. One could claim that their P2P Downloading is the same as the friend making their own copy because you dont really have to do anything but provide access to your music. Instead of showing you my CD's, I'm showing you my files. But OFFICIALLY:
Downloading copyrighted music from peer-to-peer networks is legal in Canada, although uploading files is not, Canadian copyright regulators said in a ruling released Friday.
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