Door slammed on Cdn music industry's bid to obtain names of

[BADMIHAI]

TORONTO (CP) - In what analysts are calling a "stunning" decision, the Federal Court has ruled against a motion which would have allowed the music industry to begin suing individuals who make music available online.

Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled Wednesday that the Canadian Recording Industry Association did not prove there was copyright infringement by 29 so-called music uploaders.

He said that downloading a song or making files available in shared directories, like those on Kazaa, does not constitute copyright infringement under the current Canadian law.

"No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorized the reproduction of sound recordings," von Finckenstein wrote in his 28-page ruling. "They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P service."

He compared the action to a photocopy machine in a library. "I cannot see a real difference between a library that places a photocopy machine in a room full of copyrighted material and a computer user that places a personal copy on a shared directory linked to a P2P service," he said.

The ruling sent shock waves through the industry and surprised copyright analysts.

"It raises questions of the viability of suing individual users in Canada under current Canadian copyright law," said Michael Geist, a professor at the University of Ottawa specializing in Internet and e-commerce law and technology counsel with the law firm Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt.

Geist, who called the decision "stunning," anticipates it will push the industry to increase its lobbying efforts for copyright reform in Canada.

Last month, the industry association took five Internet service providers to Federal Court, trying to force the companies to hand over the names and addresses of 29 people who allegedly shared hundreds of songs with others using programs like Kazaa last November and December.

The judge denied the recording industry's request, which means the five high-speed Internet providers - Bell Canada, Shaw Communications, Telus Communications, Rogers Cable and Videotron - won't have to divulge their client lists.

Without the names, CRIA can't begin filing lawsuits against 29 John and Jane Does who it alleges are high-volume music traders.

They're currently identifiable only through a numeric Internet protocol address and user handles like Jordana(at)KaZaA.

All the ISPs except Videotron have fought the order. Videotron had agreed to comply because owner Quebecor is also concerned about piracy in other parts of its business, which includes newspapers, television, Internet services and CDs.

ANGELA PACIENZA

[RC45]

Interesting - on a similar note, have you seen WalMart is selling downloadable music... almost seems like RIAA missed out on the real money making opportunity of the Napsters of the world.

Walmart has the .88c every song everyday system.

http://musicdownloads.walmart.com/ca...et/MainServlet

The greedy recording industry should have embraced instead of fought the digitizing of consumer music.

Oh well...

[davmac]

good news i guess, as long as we are paying "copying levees" on our cds and dvds i don' tthink they can really sue us for copying. But that being said, i don't download much music and would like to support particular artist if i like their music.

[nthfinity]

RIAA takes a hit in this one; and it makes me happy in some regards. im not sure where id fit in this battle of opinion; however i am totally against an industry that forces popularization. it makes me glad its getting cheaper for individuals have decent quality music out and about for home usage, but at the same time it seems like its overwhelming in quantity, but not quality.

[possessed_beaver]

HAHAAHAHAH FUCK THE RECORDING INDUSTRY
been a massive fan of music, and having a massive hate of paying for things
i rely rely hate the RIAA, and how they try and boss people around that "share"

sharing is caring, cheers for the update,
the RIAA issued search warents for the australian offices of kazaa a few months ago, haven't heard anything back from that.

[FerrariFerrari]

Time and time again it has been proven that the RIAA is foolish.
They don't wont to admit it but music sales actually soured to new
hights when Napstar was around and then fell after it's demise. The
problem is there is no longer a way for music fans to sample music,
radio stations don't commonly say the names of the songs that
they are playing anymore and sampling stations at stores seem to
almost be a thing of the past. If there is no way for the music fans
to sample the music their is no way for them to descover new artists
that they might like, except perhaps through friends which I think
is pretty limited. Napstar gave the music fans a place to sample
music, and studies showed that a surprising amount of people who
downloaded the songs eventually bought the CDs. Oh boy, when will
the RIAA learn.

[draak666]

Konrad von Finckenstein = good one