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"The mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution."
——Judge Konrad von Finckenstein

BLAME CANADA!

Canuck Court Tosses Out Biz’s Anti-Swapping Suit, Apparently Holds All File-Sharing Legal
Call it Finckenstein’s monster.

In another setback for the enemies of P2P, a federal judge in Canada has thrown out a suit filed jointly by a group of record labels hoping to identify supposed swappers—and ruled that sharing copyrighted music files online is not a violation of Canadian law, CNET reports.

Judge Konrad von Finckenstein slapped down the litigation efforts of the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), which had hoped to get authorization to name 29 Internet users thought to be disseminating copyrighted material. The judge opined that the industry group had failed to provide a sufficiently credible link between the activity and the ISP subscribers in question to justify violating their privacy.

But the judge’s ruling on file sharing itself may turn out to have greater significance, for he asserted that "sharing" on a P2P service was essentially a neutral act. "The mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution," he pointed out. "Before it constitutes distribution, there must be a positive act by the owner of the shared directory, such as sending out the copies or advertising that there are available for copying."

Late last year, Canada’s Copyright Board rankled rights holders by declaring that downloading for personal use—not uploading, or sharing, mind you—also appeared to be permitted under the laws of the Great White North.

CRIA said it would appeal. "In our view," harrumphed General Counsel Richard Pfohl, "the copyright law in Canada does not allow people to put hundreds or thousands of music files on the Internet for copying, transmission and distribution to millions of strangers. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m very upset—thank goodness for this legal medical marijuana."

"I think it’s a big victory for technology and the Internet," cheered Howard Knopf, an attorney at the University of Ottawa’s Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, which sounds like a shadow government accountable to no one.

While speculation is already heating up over the possible ramifications of the ruling, CRIA and kindred organizations will likely turn their attention to passing new, more copyright-friendly legislation. Canada hasn’t ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties, which contain much more rigorous protections for copyrighted material, but their completion is a priority for the current administration.

The Canadian incident, as it will doubtless be known, follows a splashy U.S. academic study (see story) claiming file sharing hasn’t hurt record sales, as well as more RIAA suits against suspected swappers.

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