MP3 Player Levy?

[hamilton]

I don't give a shit really, since I don't have any desire to own an MP3 player, but I still think this is kind of silly. I mean, if I buy an MP3 player and only load MP3s of CDs that I actually bought and have at home, then why should I have to pay a copyright levy? Of course, I know that almost no one actually does that, but still...

Return of MP3 player levy urged

February 09, 2007

Christopher Maughan

Canadian press

OTTAWA – Canadian music industry representatives are re-opening an old debate about MP3 players that could see the average price of the devices climb by as much as $75.

The Canadian Private Copying Collective, an association of composers, recording artists, publishers, and record labels is asking the Copyright Board of Canada to re-introduce a controversial extra fee into the sale price of MP3 players in Canada.

David Basskin, a member of the CPCC's board of directors, said it's time artists be compensated for the copying of their files onto the digital devices.

"We'd all like lots of things to be free. But those who create the music deserve to be compensated. When you go and buy an iPod, the retailer gets paid. So you can't say that the people who make the music should get a free ride."

The effort on the part of the CPCC comes just over two years after the Federal Court of Appeal struck down a similar levy attached to the price of the hard drives of MP3 players. At the time, these didn't fall into the category of "audio recording media" because, unlike CDs and cassettes, they can't be separated from the device that plays the sound on them. Under current legislation, the Copyright Board isn't allowed to place a levy on a playing device like a CD or tape player.

The decision meant that manufacturers had to reimburse the $15 and $25 retail surcharges on MP3 players to consumers. In total, the CCPC had to reimburse almost $4 million.

Now they're asking the Canadian Copyright Board to consider MP3 players as a whole, hard drive included, under the category of "audio recording media."

"When you look at the device as a whole, it's hard not to believe that its sole purpose is to record audio," said Basskin. The CCPC is now seeking levies ranging from $5 to $75, based on the capacity of the player's hard drive.

But some analysts are skeptical about whether the new approach will work given current copyright legislation. The problem, said David Fewer, an intellectual property law professor at the University of Ottawa, is that MP3 players fall into both the categories of "player" and "medium."

"They're really getting quite existential here. They're asking the copyright board to look into the soul of an iPod and determine its true identity. That's hard to do."

Basskin said he doesn't anticipate any difficulty.

"When Parliament passed the law in 1997, they could have attached a shopping list of media but they chose not to do that. They chose to let the law flex with the technology because there were none in 1997," he said. "What the court hasn't dealt with yet is the status of an iPod (as a whole)."

Brian Gray, an intellectual property lawyer with McCarthy Tetrault, said he doesn't anticipate the levies will be approved, despite Basskin's argument. But he said he's happy to see the issue back before the Copyright Board.

"Important issues like this deserve debate," he said.

Both Gray and Fewer recognized the legal need to compensate music producers when music is copied, especially in cases where "private" copies are distributed to friends and online peers.

Fewer said that while it's unclear if the levy will be approved, the CCPC's initiative is a step in the right direction because the other legal alternatives are impractical.

"It's a good way to get our government to start thinking about policy in a different way than it has," he said. "Digital copyright under the past few years has always been dictated by the big labels, which adopt the perspective that fans are thieves and that the lock 'em up and sue 'em strategy is the only way to go."

www.thestar.com

[Jared]

i personally have only ever put music off of cds onto my ipods, they went nessaciarly cds I had, but they were realy store bought cds.

i just dont like messing around with downleaded music. The one thing i will say about mps players, is that after i put the cds on them, i didnt really pay much attention to the cds, cause i didnt use them, now that my ipod died and i want the cds again I can't even find half of them

so i'm going to go look at the used cds store tommorow.

It would suck if they raised the price of mp3 players, for that, because there already a rip off no matter what you buy

[bouche]

A levy for an mp3 player isn't so bad. Remember the CD levy fiasco?

It's retarding, but I'd cave to that over CD's, DVD's and SD Card's having levy's attached to each. Unfortunately, when they accomplish levys on the players, the media is next.