Copyright board OKs levy on iPods, MP3 players

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) July 27, 2007 -- The Copyright Board of Canada is again backing a tax on Apple Inc.'s iPod and other MP3 music players that could boost the price of the devices by almost 30 per cent.

The board found that MP3 players could be considered a "recording medium" with a primary purpose to record and play music. The ruling favoured arguments by the Canadian Private Copying Collective, which has been trying to place levies on MP3 players for almost a decade.

This is the second time the copyright board has ruled in favour of a levy. An earlier decision was overturned by the Federal Court of Appeals in 2003. In that case, the copyright collective argued that memory within an MP3 player acts like an audio cassette or blank CD and should be subject to a levy. Opponents included retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Future Shop.

This time, the CPCC argued that an MP3 player as a whole should be considered as a recording medium.

Opponents have until Aug. 18 to ask for a judicial review of the copyright board's decision or file a Federal Court appeal.

The CPCC lobbies for levies on recordable media to compensate artists for unauthorized copying of their music. The group wants a levy of as much as $75 on an MP3 player with more than 30 gigabytes of memory.

The copyright board will seek public submissions next year on how much the levies should be, a spokesman said.

Author: Vito Pilieci
Source: http://www.canada.com/