p2pnet - rss feed: SOCAN loses tariff hike bid
p2pnet.net News:- SOCAN’s attempts to nag Canada’s Copyright Board into approving substantial tariff hikes to commercial TV stations and cable/satellite delivered television programming have failed.
Having formulated a plan to drill dentists, the organization was counting how much it could make if only it could get the board to boost the rate from 1.8% to 3.1%.
It was dealt a serious blow in 1998 when Tariff 2.A was cut to 1.8% of stations’ gross income, retroactive to January 1, 1997, from the then-current rate of 2.1%, in place since 1959.
SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) “responded vehemently to the unjustified decision with a number of actions,” it says.
It’s been trying ever since to get back to 2.1% and was demanding an increase to 3.1% for 2004.
However, the Board announced an increase to only 1.9%, retroactive to January 1, 2002, and running through 2004.
The Copyright Board also decided Tariff 18 (Recorded Music for Dancing, in bars, restaurants, clubs, ballrooms, etc.), should be increased.
“Effective in 2004, users are required to pay an annual fee to SOCAN based on venue capacity, days per week and months per year of operation, ranging from $267.33 to $1,069.32 for no more than 100 persons, plus 10 percent for each additional 20 persons,” says SOCAN.
In a bitter defeat for SOCAN, Canada’s Supreme Court recently decided unanimously that ISPs are “intermediaries” who aren’t bound by Canadian copyright legislation, to the regret of the Big Four record labels who were praying for an entirely different ruling.
The Big Music organ once took p2pnet to task for having the termerity show the SOCAN logo in a story.
August 3rd, 2004 at 12:44 am
There is something seriously wrong when the government collects a special tax that goes directly into the pockets of the corporation who got that law on the books.
Though probably the only industry that indeed should be taxed is the legal profession - or at least lawyers who represent industry interests in assaulting the rights of private individuals.
Since that seems to be the way the system works, then I will propose a law that taxes lawyers and deposits the proceeds in the newly formed organization PUFFLES, also known as P2P Users Freedom From Lawsuit Extortion Society. PUFFLES would exist to provide legal and financial assistance to any individual or non-profit organization who has been victimized by the entertainment industry’s hired guns.