Analysis of the Legality of Downloading in Canada

The legality of file sharing has been hotly debated in Canada for many years, and the issue boiled over again recently with the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) trading pot shots in the press with copyright luminaries like Michael Geist and Howard Knopf  over both the legality of the practice and its effect on the recording industry. The best guidance available to Canadians on the issue comes from two cases, decided in 2004 and 2008 respectively, which still leave some uncertainty as to the legality of file sharing in Canada. What is clear, however, is that thus far CRIA has not had nearly the same success in the Canadian Courts that the RIAA has had in the U.S.

Under Canada’s Copyright Act,  private copying of a musical recording for private use is expressly permitted. The trade off is the requirement for payment by consumers of a blank media levy, which levy is payable on blank CD-ROMs and other “audio recording media”. The blank media levy provisions of the Act were inserted at the behest of CRIA and others, who have since collected multi-millions of dollars in such levies.

For a link to the full story from the slaw.ca web site click here.