Canada Rules Music File-Sharing Legal, Denies Motions to ID Song-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 1, 2004 - 9:15am.

Toronto -- In a ruling that could have tremendous effects on music downloading in the country, a Canadian federal court has denied motions from the Canadian record industry to identify alleged music file-swappers from their Internet service providers, adding that downloading songs for personal use and offering them to others online is legal in Canada. In February, the Canadian Record Industry Association (CRIA) filed motions to require five Canadian Internet service providers to disclose the identities of 29 subscribers it believed were offering music on file-sharing services. The CRIA then intended to file copyright infringement lawsuits against the alleged pirates, similar to the tactics taken in the U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America -- which has sued nearly 2,000 Americans for copyright infringement. "We are reviewing the decision received today from the trial court and expect to appeal it," said CRIA general counsel Richard Pfohl. "In our view, the copyright law in Canada does not allow people to put hundreds or thousands of music files on the Internet for copying, transmission and distribution to millions of strangers." Earlier this week, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said it filed suits seeking the identities of alleged file-swappers in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Canada; Wednesday's decision will likely have an affect on the IFPI litigation as well.
http://www.cria.ca/news/cria_31mar04.htm
http://news.com.com/2100-1027-5182641.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-piracy1apr01.story