Internet service providers are not liable for royalties to musicians just because their technology is used by peer-to-peer swappers to download music from the Internet, Canada's Supreme Court ruled June 30.
"The capacity of the Internet to disseminate works of the arts and intellect is one of the great innovations of the information age," Justice Ian Binnie wrote for the majority. "Its use should be facilitated rather than discouraged, but this should not be done unfairly at the expense of the creator of the works. It is clear that Parliament did not want copyright disputes between creators and users to be visited on the heads of the Internet intermediaries, whose continued expansion and development is considered vital to national economic growth."
Canadian Association of Internet Providers chairman Tom Copeland praised the ruling for warding off what he believes would be a big blow to Canadian ISPs, including his own Internet service he provides with his wife. "Despite what the perceptions are," he told reporters after the high court ruling, "the margins in this industry are slim to none."
The Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada wanted ISPs to pay a tariff on music downloaded by the ISPs' customers, but the CAIP argued the SCAMPC should be asking for royalties from Websites offering the music files The SCAMPC believed, according to previously published reports, that collecting from the ISPs would be easier than hunting down the Websites and downloaders.
In the United States, peer-to-peer Internet downloading of music and video content has provoked skirmish after skirmish between music and film trade associations and the P2P community. The Recording Industry Association of America has raised controversy over its subpoena and sue strategy against the P2Pers.
On the video side, one adult video company – Titan Media – has actually followed a strategy on a somewhat parallel track to what the Canadian musicians sought. Titan works with ISPs quietly to find and discourage P2P downloaders, without either exposing the P2Pers' identities publicly or holding the ISPs liable for the downloading.
