Time for Copyright Overhaul?
Amid the Canadian Private Copying Collective’s assertion it has the right to slap a $75 levy on iPods, Michael Geist suggests it may be time for an extensive copyright overhaul in Canada.
Geist suggests the system to compensate artists for copyrighted material that has been recorded, copied, etc. has led to a “prohibitively expensive litigation process that excludes many interested parties, price-distorting fees such as the private copying levy, questions about the fairness of royalty distribution, and a Copyright Board that seemingly places its views above the courts, changes to the system appear to be long overdue.”
It will be interesting to see if copyright becomes a political issue as opposed to one that increasing sees the CPCC going head-to-head against retailers and consumers.
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POSTED IN: Technology
1 opinion for Time for Copyright Overhaul?
bromo98
Aug 7, 2007 at 8:17 am
I generally support artists trying to get paid for work they create - especially when it’s used in a commercial setting. However, I wonder if artist’s really support anything close to what is being proposed in their name.
In my mind - targeting iPods is so off the mark it’s not even funny. The DRM that Apple builds in actually almost guarantees that music that is on an iPod can go no further, at least I’ve never been able to transfer it from the starting computer to the iPod and then to a different computer from there.
The CPCC is certainly playing a losing game as every time the succeed in putting a levy on something, it will certainly be obsolete as a recording medium (how much are they raking in off of the levy on blank cassettes in 2007?).
The artists unfortunately are the ones that will pay the price. They are seen as greedy - not the industry that is doing this on their ‘behalf’. It is their music that will not be in the hands of as many consumers - the logic of a small piece of a big pie seems to elude the CPCC. And it’s a shame. I don’t believe the average consumer goes out to job an artist out of royalties they deserve to be paid. But when you start to call people criminals - don’t be surprised when they start acting like it.
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