According to a recent article from The Canadian Press, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) is pushing the Canadian Copyright Board to reimpose an extra fee on the sale of MP3 devices. This fee would be charged on MP3 player sales and could range from $5 to $75 depending on the size of the player’s harddrive.
The CPCC direcor says:
“We’d all like lots of things to be free. But those who create the music deserve to be compensated. When you go and buy an iPod, the retailer gets paid. So you can’t say that the people who make the music should get a free ride.”
I don’t believe this to be the case though. The CPCC assumes that all of the MP3 player devices will be loaded with illegally downloaded copies of music. They don’t account for those who buy MP3s online nor do they account for those who rip songs off their CDs. Those people are getting taxed for using a player with their own legal music. This is a case of taxing the masses for the wrong doing of only a specific group.
As the articles says “Brian Gray, an intellectual property lawyer with McCarthy Tetrault, said he doesn’t anticipate the levies will be approved, despite Basskin’s argument. But he said he’s happy to see the issue back before the Copyright Board.”
It’s alright that such topics get raised by government, but I hope that a measure like this doesn’t pass. Adding a $75 fee to the purchase of some players will no doubt hurt player sales and in no way stop the illegal trade of MP3 songs. Also in this day and age, you have to expect that Canadian citizens could purchase players online from the US and bypass the extra fees.
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