The Manic Mechanic

A large number of people on my friends list are serious music fans, musicians and DJs (why is that?). A court case I've been following might be of interest to some of you. A judge has determined that a record label can not stop the sale of "promotional" recorded works (CDs, vinyl, etc) by the people who originally received those items. The labels defense had been the promo materials, being given away rather than sold, were 'licensed' to the recipients and that those recipients did not actually 'own' the items. By attempting to sell the materials, the seller was committing 'copyright infringement' by violating the license agreement, and the labels halted the sales and auctions by invoking the beloved DMCA.

Music companies have long tried to stop the sale of used records and CDs, but time and time again were thwarted by something known as the "First Sale Doctrine" which basically states that once an item is purchased, one has the right to re-sell that item. Unless a contract was signed stating otherwise, there is nothing the primary seller can do to stop subsequent sales of a particular item. Promotional materials have long held a high collector value and can bring big bucks for sellers of those sorts of items. While a music company might snarl at the prospect of someone re-selling a CD that they had purchased because the sale brought in no more profit for the company, these companies have historically been in a tizzy over the market for promo material given away at their own cost. By waving the DMCA around these companies figured they had found a convenient tool to work their bidding. Instead, a level-headed judge proved that the promo stuff fell under the rights of first sale despite being free, and the similar area of law that states a party can't hand out unsolicited items to people then expecting payment of some sort. The CDs were considered 'gifts' and once out of their hands, the labels had no more say in how they were to be used.

Wonderful! Finally here is a definitive, pro-consumer ruling that has some pretty big implications for the future and helps protect individuals and organizations from draconian abuse from corporations bent on having final say on what we as consumers can or cannot do with products we buy, even after the sale.

I know a couple of my dear readers had encountered this sort of issue when trying to sell on eBay some promo stuff only to have it continually shut down. Maybe now you can tell 'em to go pound sand. And now your friendly local used record store can breathe a bit easier too.

Well, it seems the music industry thinks it can shake down our Canadian friends upstairs a hell of a lot more than they are doing already. For years, Canadians have 'enjoyed' paying a 21 cent 'tax' (actually a 'levy') on each blank CD-R disk purchased, whether or not that disk is used to store music. Disks designed to store music data ("Music CD-Rs" and MiniDiscs) carry a 77 cent tariff. That's about to change, and expand, if a proposal by the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) becomes law. In addition to raising the current tariffs, the new law would attach a hefty levy to flash media according to capacity, and some whopping fees onto MP3 players, topping out at $75 bux for a player with 30 gigs or more of storage.



As far as I see it, this 'levy', which is meant to compensate artists for their work (and to date I think has not contributed one red cent to anyone but industry lawyers) should now give carte blanche to everyone up in the Great White North to download, trade and share music via any means possible with full blessings of the industry. Artists be damned, go forth and fill those iPods up. After all it was Universal Media Group CEO Doug Morris who exclaimed last year, "These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it.". Makes you just want to give up buying music forever, doesnt it?

More info can be found here.
Proposal can be viewed here (.pdf)