The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) went to court in February, asking that ISPs be forced to identify 29 file-sharers, who could then be sued directly. Yesterday the court said no.
According to news site The Register, Judge Konrad von Finckenstein wrote in his ruling:
"No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorised the reproduction of sound recordings. They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P service."
"I cannot see a real difference between a library that places a photocopy machine in a room full of copyrighted material and a computer user that places a personal copy on a shared directory linked to a P2P service."
The music industry is fighting a desperate battle to control the unauthorised downloading of copyrighted music. It sees peer-to-peer file-sharing services like KaZaA as the biggest problem.
In the US, the Recording Industry Association of America has to date has sued 1,997 individual file swappers. When the CRIA decided to follow its lead, it first faced the problem of identifying the persons involved. While the copyrighted music stored by these file-sharers can be traced to a particular IP address, the details of who owns that address remain confidential and in the hands of ISPs.
The Federal Court decision on Wednesday means that the actions, trumpeted on Tuesday by worldwide music body the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry as part of a growing global attack on illegal file-sharing, have stumbled at the first hurdle.
CRIA General Counsel Richard Pfohl said the decision is being reviewed and is likely to be appealed. He added:
"In our view, 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. We put forward a compelling case of copyright infringement in seeking these disclosure orders. We presented more initial evidence than has ever been put forward in a request for disclosure of user identities from ISPs – which Canadian courts have granted on numerous occasions."
