Canadian Supreme Court Won't Hear 'iPod Tax' Case

by Mike Godfrey, for LawAndTax-News.com, Washington

01 August 2005

A Canadian Supreme Court decision on the so-called 'iPod tax' may have implications for the perceived legality of peer-to-peer file sharing in the country, according to experts.

The Supreme Court stated last week that it would not hear a dispute involving the imposition of an additional tax on the purchase of iPods and MP3 players, under which the proceeds go to compensate artists and composers for the copyright infringing uses to which such devices can be put.

The fee was initially imposed in 2003, but was put aside by an appeals court last year.

Although the decision to leave hard-drive recorders untaxed is likely to be welcomed by many within the file-sharing community, the implications of the Supreme Court decision may be less cheering.

In a statement released following the announcement that the case would not be heard, Canadian Recording Industry Association president, Graham Henderson warned that:

"For years, those supporting unauthorised file sharing have misleadingly used the existence of the Private Copying Levy to justify illegitimate file sharing. Today, the Supreme Court says 'no such luck'.

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