Canadian Music Industry Seeks Copy Tax On Memory Cards 265
An anonymous reader writes "The Canadian music industry's copyright collective is demanding
the creation of a new copying tax on all memory cards sold in
Canada. The Canadian Private Copying Collective has filed for a tax of
up to $3 per memory card to compensate for music copying on SD
cards. If approved, the tax could cost consumers millions of
dollars." Makes no less sense than the current levy exacted on blank CDs and audiotapes in Canada — and no more sense, either.
Well, well... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd rather pay 3$ per memory card than have a DMCA++ / ACTA laws enacted that just screws everything up!
You can't sue people who have paid a copying tax can you?
Unlike Europe - where this is outright ILLEGAL (Score:5, Interesting)
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) today declared illegal any digital canon which is being imposed indiscriminately on all equipment and materials used for reproduction and not only that which presumably can only be used for private copying , as applied in Spain. Spain imposes a "canón digital", a small tax on all digital media (CD's, tapes, DVD's and associated equipment) which is given to the General Society of Authors for copyright payment in case the media is used to copy work.
Hah (Score:4, Interesting)
We got that in Spain. The thing ended up propagating to every multimedia device like photo cameras, HDDs and anything that can use removable memory. (and it's a large price difference!)
If you Canadians can stop it, this would be a good moment, before it spreads.
Re:Unlike Europe - where this is outright ILLEGAL (Score:2, Interesting)
No it is NOT illegal in the EU. Germany is one of the worst in this regard. We pay levies on blank CDs/DVDs/etc., other storage mediums (not just memory cards, e.g. HDDs, USB sticks), printers, PCs, mobile phones, recording equipment (e.g. CD burners), portable audio players, photocopiers and so on and so forth.
At least all these levies eliminated ANY moral qualms I would have had pirating music, movies and books. They took my money by force of law. It's only fair I take their products in return. Sure it may be illegal, but seriously, fuck them. I have no respect for unjust laws.
I still pay for all software I use since they are not part of this corrupt system.
Re:The price we pay for sanity (Score:4, Interesting)
Because up here the last time they tried, they lost and lost BAD.
BMG Canada vs John Doe resulted in the judge declaring file sharing was entirely legal! It was a sledgehammer to the balls for the music industry. It took a year for the Federal Court of Appeals to nix the previous judges ruling (while not making any judgement themselves), leaving the question of file sharing legality an open and unanswered question. That was six years ago. The Canadian music industry is waiting for copyright reform (probably coming in the next year) before they risk slamming their collective dicks in a door again. In the meantime they'll just soak up some media levy - it's cheaper than constantly hiring lawyers anyway.
These levies aren't to cover piracy... (Score:4, Interesting)
They are to cover ANTI-piracy. Forget about what it is, and forget about what it means. It's not a good idea, it's a better idea.
Look at the US. Not at their piracy, but at their letigious anti-piracy. Think about all of the times that someone, especially the RIAA but not only them, takes legal action, of any kind, at all related to pirating music, in any way.
Now think of the costs spent, by the tax-payers, to pay the courts, the judges, the legal defense, cleaning the court rooms, publishing the court date, scheduling the legal battle amongst actual important things.
Think of the tax-payer money lost because people free to sue each other actually do.
$3 per memory card is WAY LESS than the cost of supporting people suing one another.
That's why we do it. It's cheaper to pay a tax than to deal with such an issue. So we'll wait for the US to solve piracy altogether -- you know, with dmca and such -- and until then, we'll take the lesser of two evils.