SOCAN, and the Canadian law about the Internet

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 14:25:17 +0000
From: M Taylor <mctaylor () privacy nb ca>
Subject: SOCAN, and the Canadian law about the Internet
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>


[For IP if you want.]

Frankly I think the SOCAN issue is minor, a cheap money grab attempt, since
the CD-R levy attempt worked in Canadaian, but even the Copyright Board had
issues with rasing the levy above 100% of the cost of a blank CD-R. The
broad implications for Internet law in Canada and elsewhere is a much more
concern to me. -mct


<http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1069987965274_65397165/>
Music group aims to charge Internet users

Canada's songwriters will ask the Supreme Court of Canada next week to force
Internet service providers to pay them royalties for the millions of digital
music files downloaded each year by Canadians.
...

The Supreme Court will also be asked to adjudicate on a jurisdictional issue,
specifically whether Canadian law ought to apply to organizations which
operate Web servers physically located outside the country but which deliver
content to Canadians.

There is some case law already in Canada that supports the idea that business
activities aimed at or used by significant numbers of Canadians ought to be
subject to Canadian law even if the organization behind those activities is
located outside the country.

"This case is terrifically significant," said Richard Owens, executive
director of the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy at the University of
Toronto. "From an Internet law point-of-view, it'll have effects around the
world. Legal academics have been waiting for [this] for a long time. The
Supreme Court is finally stepping in and giving us some guidance for the
digital age."
...

The Federal Court held that the act of creating a cache of content means
that ISPs are moving from their role as carrier to a role in which they
actively decide what kind of content will exist on their systems. And that
means, under Canadian copyright law, they should be responsible for that
content.

...



--
M Taylor
http://www.mctaylor.com/ 

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/