No Infringement in Music File Sharing, Federal Court of Canada Rules in Copyright Case
1
NOINFRINGEMENTINMUSICFILESHARING,FEDERALCOURTOFCANADA
RULESINCOPYRIGHTCASE
BarryGamache*
LEGERROBICRICHARD,Lawyers,
ROBIC,Patent&TrademarkAgents
CentreCDPCapital
1001Square-Victoria-BlocE–8
thFloor
Montreal,Quebec,CanadaH2Z2B7
Tel.:(514)9876242-Fax:(514)8457874
info@robic.com–www.robic.ca
Canada’sFederalCourtrecentlyruledthatplacingacopyofadownloaded
songonashareddirectoryinacomputerwherethatcopycanbeaccessed
viaapeer-to-peerfilesharingprogramdoesnotamounttodistributionofthat
copysoastoconstituteinfringementofcopyrightunderCanada’sCopyright
Act,R.S.C.,1985,c.C-42.(BMGCanadaInc.etal.v.JohnDoe,2004FC488
(March31,2004,vonFinckenstein,J.;appealfiledonApril13,2004)).
OnMarch12,2004,membersofCanada’srecordingindustrybroughta
motionbeforeCanada’sFederalCourtseekingdisclosurefromfiveCanadian
internetserviceproviders(ISPs)oftheidentityofindividualswho,asallegedby
plaintiffs,have”infringedcopyrightlawsbyillegallytradinginmusic
downloadedfromtheinternet”.Accordingtoplaintiffs,thoseindividualswere
29internetusersoperatingunderpseudonymsassociatedwiththesoftware
theywereusing(forexampleGeekboy@KaZaA);theseindividualsalso
apparentlyusedInternetProtocoladdresses(IPaddresses)registeredwiththe
aforementionedfiveISPs.ThroughtheirmotionagainsttherespondentISPs,
plaintiffsthussoughtanordertocompelsuchISPstodisclosethenamesof
thoseindividualsusingthose29IPaddresses.
Plaintiffsfurtherallegedthatthe29internetusershadeachdownloaded
morethan1,000songsoverwhichPlaintiffsclaimrightsunderCanada’s
CopyrightAct,ontotheirhomecomputers.Moreover,thoseindividuals
allegedlyusedpeer-to-peerfilesharingprograms(inthiscase,KaZaAand
iMesh)whichenableuserstoconnecttoapeer-to-peernetworkandmake
anysharedfilesavailablefortransfertoanyotheruserthatiscurrently
connectedtothesamepeer-to-peernetwork;theprogramsinquestionalso
providearangeofmeansthroughwhichausermaysearchthroughapool