The CRIA – the same old song
p2pnet news | Music:- Readers of this blog will recall that the CRIA broke from the Canadian Private Copying Collective earlier this fall by seeking leave to intervene in a federal court case where it will oppose the expansion of the private copying levy.
The CRIA identified seven objections to the Copyright Board’s iPod levy decision, but the federal court ruled that it didn’t want to hear those arguments. Instead, it granted the CRIA leave to intervene on the condition that it limit its argument to the core issue before the court.
The CRIA has just submitted its brief and it would appear that the judge’s ruling did not make much of an impression.
Virtually all the issues the CRIA raised in its initial request to intervene are back including claims that the private copying levy would violate Canada’s international trade obligations and that the private copying levy will kill the digital music market (the CRIA argues that “no service can compete with something that is free”).
It also argues that the Copyright Board was wrong to say that without the expansion of the levy it would “instantly make the conduct of millions of Canadians illegal, and even possibly criminal”, noting that making private copies could not be a criminal offense in Canada.
Michael Geist
[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist[at]uottawa.ca and is on-line at www.michaelgeist.ca.]
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November 13th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Bunch o’ crybabies.