Sharing copyrighted works on P2P networks is legal in Canada! A federal judge ruled on Wednesday. Canadian record labels asked the judge to identify 29 alleged file swappers in Canada in preparation for suing them just like the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) did in the US, and the judge denied the request. But the Judge, looking at the facts already in place, went even further by stating that BOTH downloading files AND putting files in a shared folder on your computer is not against the law. Needless to say, the RIAA was stunned, as were the record labels in Canada.
But wait, there is more:
Last December, the Canadian copyright board ruled that downloading songs from a P2P network for personal use appeared to be legal. They said that uploading may not be legal, but the ‘uploader’ actually does not upload, but rather simply puts the file in a shared folder, so no violation occurs.
The judge, in reviewing the case, stated a long standing rule in Canada that says most copying for personal use in Canada is legal. In addition, as in the US, a fee is imposed on all blank tapes, CD and DVD recordable media, video tape, and even hard disk MP-3 players and is distributed to copyright holders. Basically, people ALREADY PAY for the right to copy files for personal use to other devices. In his ruling, it seems that putting your file in a shared folder is not illegal, and the judge also upheld the December ruling, so downloading falls within fair, personal use as well.
In addition, with respect to downloading, the judge questioned whether the recording industry even had a copyright case. He also accepted the Copyright Board’s earlier decision, and went further in citing a recent Canadian Supreme Court decision to say that making music available on-line appears to be legal. That case said the Canadian court said that ‘libraries were not authorizing copyright infringement simply by putting a copy machine near books, and ruled that the customers were using the machines in a legal manner.’ The reviewing judge on Wednesday said that the same rationale should apply to peer-to-peer networks.
The judge said, ‘The mere fact of playing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution. Before it constitutes distribution, there must be a positive act by the owner of the shared directory, such as sending out the copies or advertising that they are available for copying.’
Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor said that this appears to make uploading legal as well, since a P2P user, such as a library, would be entitled to assume that the person on the other side of the connection was acting legally, since downloading was also legal in Canada.
Mean while, the ‘International Federation of Phonographic Industry’ said it was filing 247 lawsuits against alleged file shares in Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Canada. I can’t help but think of the Star Wars line ‘The more you tighten your grip’¦the more that will slip through your fingers!’
In other news, a recent study by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina tracked music downloads over 17 weeks in 2002, matching data on file transfers with actual market performance of the songs and albums being downloaded. Even high levels of file-swapping seemed to translate into an effect on album sales that was “statistically indistinguishable from zero.”
As I have ALWAYS argued, they found that ‘While downloads occur on a vast scale, most users are likely individuals who would not have bought the album even in the absence of file sharing.’
Gee, what a surprise!!! Of course, the RIAA says nonsense, but that is not a surprise.
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