CRIA Mounties bust Ottawa store owner
2pnet news view | P2P | Music:- Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, working for the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America) at taxpayer expense, have busted an Ottawa record store owner under the Canadian Copyright Act.
The Mounties “raided” Legend Records in April “after an undercover agent bought CDs in January,” says the Ottawa Citizen. “Agents from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) subsequently said the CDs violated Canadian copyright law.”
Far from “subsequently,” in all likelihood, the CRIA was behind the ‘raid’ in the first place and now the store owner, David Nolan, has been given “three months to make a $1,000 donation to the charity of his choice” and is slated to appear in court again on April 1.
The RCMP seized about 500 CDs in the April raid, says the story, which has Nolan’s lawyer, Mark Lazarovitz, saying “99.9 per cent” of Nolan’s collection was legitimate” and “that it makes little sense to go after a man who is essentially supporting the recording industry when illegally downloaded music is rampant.”
The final figure of 100 illegal CDs “was a somewhat arbitrary figure,” says the story, adding:
“Nolan said he often tracks down rare CDs that are unavailable in North America to satisfy his customers. Often the original copyright holders are dead, he said.”
“I can’t afford to fight it,” the Ottawa Citizen quotes him as saying, adding he felt “ripped off.”
Another noteworthy triumph for the CRIA.
(Cheers, Marc)
If p2pnet has value for you, help me keep it online. Cheers! And thanks : )
(If you don’t fancy online payments, please email me at p2pnet @ shaw dot ca and I’ll send you my snail-mail address.)
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Ottawa Citizen – Record-store owner pleads guilty to Copyright Act charge over bootleg CDs, December 15, 2009
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It`s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
December 16th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
“Violated Canadian copyright law” How? If the CDs were not available for distribution in Canada, that would imply no member of the CRIA owns the rights. How is that a violation of Canadian copyright law? Can you not sell something that isn’t copyrighted in Canada?
The article doesn’t even say HOW the law was violated. So is it just CRIA saying it’s violated or did the mounties do their research first to ensure the law was actually violated?
This sounds an awful lot like SOCAN charging people for performances of classical music by non-SOCAN performers. Classical music is in the public domain, but somehow they are allowed to have a license on their website you can fill out to perform classical music. The funds “go to” symphonies.
So if I play Bach on my guitar, I have to pay and that money goes to a symphony who didn’t a) write Bach’s music or b) perform Bach’s music and c) are NOT copyright owners!
Again, CRIA or Ottawa Citizen, explain HOW the law was “violated” so we can find out if you’re full of shit or not. I hope you get $6 billion + demanded from you. You deserve it from all the “hard work” you’ve done.
December 16th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
-500 cd’s taken
-drops to about 250 said to be pirated
-Guy says he funded some of the works by local bands (not even CRIA members and local bands he funded, and they likely gave it to him)
-then they settle on an arbitrary number of 100 cd’s said to be pirated which he denies.
No, the RCMP did not do their work. They did CRIA’s work so CRIA can try to prove something.
The guy stated all that needed to be stated:
“‘I can’t afford to fight it’”
You pay tax for this service. Is this RCMP detective/police service worth your hard earned money when wasted on CRIA and the lies?
December 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Maybe we can start a campaign and, though a tough time of the year, collect donations so he can fight it, then win, and counter sue RCMP for lack of due diligence and CRIA for false prosecution and false claims of ownership/breaking copyright law.
December 16th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
“If the CDs were not available for distribution in Canada, that would imply no member of the CRIA owns the rights.”
++++++ !!
Exactly, Robert!
Which is why this “bust” is not only illegal for a few reasons, but it also stinks of police collusion. If I had gobs of money, I’d encourage him to challenge the whole thing, and pay for all this guy’s legal expenses.
December 16th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
“Far from “subsequently,” in all likelihood, the CRIA was behind the ‘raid’ in the first place and now the store owner, David Nolan, has been given “three months to make a $1,000 donation to the charity of his choice” and is slated to appear in court again on April 1.”
Donate to EFF, Pirate Party or the like!
December 16th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
thats sad, I have to order all my stuff online since none of it is sold near by. Sad to a hear one of the few store owners left that might actually be able to get stuff has to go through this.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
More info on this so called “bust” here:
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/12/15/12167366.html
and here:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/16/major-record-labels-1.html
May 17th, 2010 at 1:28 am
I don’t care what small amount of cds were illegal, this guy tries to keep real, tangible, touchable, PHYSICAL music alive, in a world of downloads, and for that he gets in trouble? this is sad. I hope the someone’s Ipod explodes for this crime. Or maybe I should go buy all those “illegal” cds o support the owner. Not because I want illegal music (whatever that is) but because I NEED APLACE TO BUY VINYL, and it’s the one of the only places left to buy it!
“insert swearword and desperate comment” here. SHEESH