Harmony in Canadian-U.S. Internet Broadcasting.
In November–despite the urging of ASCAP–the U.S. Copyright Office clarified that broadcasting music over the internet was not “creating a digital recording” (for which internet radio stations would have to be a cost-prohbitive Compulsory Licensing fee), but rather a “performance” just as any traditonal radio station. This ruling applies the same performance licensing rules to internet radio and broadcast radio and allows internet radio stations like Pandora to remain in business. Click here for all the gory details.
The Copyright Board of Canada made a similar decision in October, when it determined that internet and broadcast radio stations were subject to the same rates. It may not by a cultural zeitgeist, but it’s encouraging that two of the world’s most innovative economies have reached the same common sense approach.
——————————————
DIGITAL MUSIC PROVIDERS TO PAY THE COPYRIGHT PIPER
On October 24, 2008, the Copyright Board of Canada delivered the second part1 of its decision establishing copyright tariffs on music broadcast or made available over the Internet. The first part of the decision, delivered on October 18, 20072, addressed several preliminary legal issues dealing with the definition of “telecommunication” in the light of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in SOCAN v. CAIP3; which held that previewing music before purchasing constitutes fair dealing under the Copyright Act; and established tariffs for downloadable music (with or without Digital Rights Management (”DRM”)) and audio streaming.
In summary, in this second part, the Board held that music broadcast or made available over the Internet is subject to tariffs, as is traditional broadcast of music. The Board established tariffs for music broadcast over the Internet (”webcast”) by radio and TV stations, audio websites4, and other entities that use music on their websites, as discussed below.
Read the full article.
RSS
