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[HSDEMONZ]

Inspired by recent conversation about the legalities of Software Backups/Piracy/Levies in CANADA.. I compiled a little bit of research.  Makes for some interesting light reading.


CANADA
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1999 Canada Software Piracy by Province - http://www.caast.ca/...df/IPR_1999.pdf - A little outdated.. but interesting nevertheless.

Canadian Copyright Board of Canada - Copyright Board Interim Tariff Rates - December 19th, 2002 - cb-cda.gc.ca/news/interimcopy-e.html - This is the original Legislation regarding the current levies. (Canada)

Bill-C-32 - An Act to Amend the Copyright Act of Canada - http://www.parl.gc.c..._3/12472bE.html - (Canada)

Bill-C-32 - PRIVATE COPYING - The Law. http://www.parl.gc.c...72b-11E.html#61

Canadian Coalition for Fair Digital Access - http://www.ccfda.ca/index_eng.html - Information on Canadian Levies placed on CDR media by the music industry, to recoup potential losses due to estimated levels of piracy. (canada)

FAQ from CCFDA regarding the New proposed increased Levies on CDR used for Private Copies (Canada)  http://www.ccfda.ca/...s/eng_faqs.html

The "Blank CD-R Tax" FAQ (CANADA) - Wednesday, March 13, 2002 - http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml



CANADA-- and Copying.. in the News...
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SOFTWARE PIRACY COSTS THE CANADIAN ECONOMY $457 MILLION - TORONTO, Ont., May 22, 2001 - http://www.eletra.co...le000026920.cfm The Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST) David Farnes, Vice-President Industry and Regulatory Affairs, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) Writes to the Copyright Board of Canada Regarding Proposed Levies - May 8, 2002 - http://www.cwta.ca/a..._cpcc_cwta.php3

Canada makes little headway against piracy: Study (GLOBE & MAIL) By By JACK KAPICA - June 10th 2002 - http://www.globetech...site=Technology

Canadians Burned By Blank-CD Levy  (www.WIRED.com) Jan. 08, 2003 - http://www.wired.com...2,57114,00.html - Canadians are legally allowed to copy music for personal use. In exchange, a small fee is added to the price of recordable CDs to compensate musicians and music publishing companies. Similar "royalties" are collected in more than 40 countries, including the United States under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992."

"First payout of blank media levy totals almost $7-million" (GLOBE & MAIL) by JAMES ADAMS - Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - http://www.globetech...10/james adams/ "Cheques totalling almost $7-million, raised from a controversial levy on blank CDs and cassettes, have been sent to organizations representing Canadian composers, performers, publishers and record companies."

CAAST calls a TRUCE for PIRATES - February 2003 - http://www.caast.ca/truce/

"Lawsuits hit Net music downloaders" (GLOBE & MAIL) By BARRIE McKENNA AND PAUL WALDIE (With files from Associated Press) - September 10, 2003 - http://www.globeandm.....c+downloaders "Mark Hayes, a copyright lawyer at Ogilvy Renault in Toronto, said Americans who copy a lot of music off the Internet face about a 7- to 8-in-10 chance of being sued. Canadians face about a 3-in-10 chance, he said."


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Can I now legally copy music CDs for my friends? (examples added

2002-03-21)
The simple answer is NO, but you can legally copy your friend's music CD

for YOUR OWN use.

To paraphrase the introduction to an early Copyright Board ruling:

On March 19, 1998, Part VIII of the Copyright Act came into force. Until
then, copying any sound recording for almost any purpose infringed
copyright. Part VIII legalizes one such activity: copying of sound
recordings of musical works onto recording media for the private use of
the person who makes the copy.

It does not matter whether you own the original sound recording (on any
medium), you can legally make a copy for your own private use.
To emphasize this point, endnote 4 of an early Copyright Board ruling

says:

Section 80 does not legalize (a) copies made for the use of someone other
than the person making the copy; and ( copies of anything else than
sound recordings of musical works. It does legalize making a personal copy
of a recording owned by someone else.

Note that the Copyright Act ONLY allows for copies to be made of "sound
recordings of musical works". Nonmusical works, such as audio books or
books-on-tape are NOT covered.

The wording of the Copyright Act gives rise to some very odd situations.
In the 6 examples below, "commercial CD" means a commercially pressed CD
that you would normally buy at a retail store.

1) If someone steals a commercial CD, steals a blank CD-R, and then copies the commercial CD onto the CD-R, they are a thief, but they have not infringed copyright.
2) You can legally lend a commercial CD to a friend, give him a blank CD-R, let him use your computer, and help him burn the CD-R which he can keep for his own private use.
3) You can legally copy a commercial CD , keep the copy, and give your friend the original.
4) You cannot legally make the copy yourself and give your friend the copy.
5) Your friends Alice and Benoit really like the new commercial CD you just purchased. Alice borrows it and makes a copy for her own use. She then passes the commercial CD on to Benoit, who makes a copy for his own use. Benoit gives the commercial CD back to you. This is all perfectly legal.
6) However, if Alice had copied the commercial CD, given it back to you, and passed her copy on to Benoit to make a copy for his own use, then copyright would have "probably" been infringed. There is some doubt here because Alice's original intent is important. In the strictest terms, her copy was no longer just for her private use. Pretty strange considering that the end result of examples 5 and 6 are exactly the same! - Source:  http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml




UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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US CODE :TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 10 > SUBCHAPTER C > Sec. 1004. Royalty payments - http://www4.law.corn...de/17/1004.html - US laws already include a TARIFF collection or LEVY.. to recoup losses due to alleged piracy.

Quotes from The "Blank CD-R Tax" FAQ: At least 25 countries, including most G-7 and European Union members, have introduced comparable regimes with respect to the private copying of sound recordings. Canada is one of the last to do so.

The USA is often held out as an example of a place where "this could never happen", but as far as I can tell, it has been law there since December 8, 1994. It is part of Title 17, section 1004, and if you go to: http://www4.law.corn...de/17/1004.html

you will find this paragraph:

( Digital Audio Recording Media. - The royalty payment due under
section1003 for each digital audio recording medium imported into and
distributed in the United States, or manufactured and distributed in the
United States, shall be 3 percent of the transfer price. Only the first
person to manufacture and distribute or import and distribute such medium
shall be required to pay the royalty with respect to such medium.

Note, however, that in the US there is NO levy collected on "ordinary"
CD-Rs When the legislation was last changed (in 1994/1995) CD-Rs were not
seen as a media intended for copying music. There IS a levy applied to
other digital media, such as DAT and CD-R Audio.

NETHERLANDS
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In a posting to news://alt.comp.periphs.cdr on Sat, 18 December 1999

19:25:25 +0100, Sybren <[email protected]> wrote the

following (edited for length):

"We have this kind of thing here in the Netherlands since 1 September '99.  To clear some things up: the levy here is about 8¢ for "computer" CDR's and about 40¢ for "audio" CDR's.  this levy makes it *legal* to copy audio CD's for personal use.

Commercially selling copied audio CD's is still (obviously) illegal.   the money goes to the Buma/Stemra (a sister organisation of the RIAA), and is redistributed to all registered artists according to their respective sales. So yes (for the cynics out there), even the most obscure artist out there really does get his money (as *all* record labels register the albums they release). The 40¢ for "audio" CDR's was derived from the current levies on audio tapes, MiniDisk's and DAT's.

The 8¢ for "computer" CDR's was chosen because research showed that 1/5th of all "computer" CDR's ended up being used for the copying of audio CD's."