Top court hears pitch for tariff on web use
Last Updated Wed, 03 Dec 2003 12:37:20
OTTAWA - Internet users will have to pay more for access if Canada's music composers and publishers convince the Supreme Court of Canada to add a tariff on web use.
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is in court on Wednesday arguing that internet providers should hand over millions of dollars toward royalties for pirated music.
The tariff would be essentially a tax of up to 10 per cent on the ISPs' annual revenues.
The ISPs say they shouldn't be held responsible for what users post on their websites.
"We're simply the pipe between them and our subscribers," said Jay Kerr-Wilson, a lawyer with the Canadian Cable Television Association.
Statistics Canada says ISPs reported revenues of more than $1.25 billion in 2001.
A new tariff would be passed on to the customers, the industry says.
SOCAN collected and distributed more than $120 million in royalties from sales of blank CDs, DVDs and cassettes, and annual fees from bars, restaurants, broadcasters and other places where music is used.
If the Supreme Court agrees to impose the new tariff, the legal precedent could open the door for other associations to lobby for similar payments for software, photographs and works of literature that have been put on the web.
SOCAN is also asking the court to decide if ISPs can be held accountable for web content hosted in other countries but accessed by Canadians. A consortium of ISPs from Australia, Europe and the United States are attending the hearing.
Last Updated Wed, 03 Dec 2003 12:37:20
OTTAWA - Internet users will have to pay more for access if Canada's music composers and publishers convince the Supreme Court of Canada to add a tariff on web use.
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is in court on Wednesday arguing that internet providers should hand over millions of dollars toward royalties for pirated music.
The tariff would be essentially a tax of up to 10 per cent on the ISPs' annual revenues.
The ISPs say they shouldn't be held responsible for what users post on their websites.
"We're simply the pipe between them and our subscribers," said Jay Kerr-Wilson, a lawyer with the Canadian Cable Television Association.
Statistics Canada says ISPs reported revenues of more than $1.25 billion in 2001.
A new tariff would be passed on to the customers, the industry says.
SOCAN collected and distributed more than $120 million in royalties from sales of blank CDs, DVDs and cassettes, and annual fees from bars, restaurants, broadcasters and other places where music is used.
If the Supreme Court agrees to impose the new tariff, the legal precedent could open the door for other associations to lobby for similar payments for software, photographs and works of literature that have been put on the web.
SOCAN is also asking the court to decide if ISPs can be held accountable for web content hosted in other countries but accessed by Canadians. A consortium of ISPs from Australia, Europe and the United States are attending the hearing.
