Can Canadians legally download copyrighted music from peer-to-peer networks?
The short answer is: Nobody knows for sure. But the issue is far murkier than in other jurisdictions like the United States. The key provision in Canada’s copyright legislation is a private copyright exemption that lets Canadians make private copies for noncommercial use. The way we justify the exemption is by way of a levy that applies to blank media such as blank CDs and blank audio cassettes. Canada has yet to enact any digital copyright legislation along the lines of the DMCA. With the exemption, there are many who believe that those who download music for noncommercial purposes from P2P networks could avail themselves of this legal defense. This has never been tested in court. The recording industry is of the opinion that this violates the spirit of the law if not the letter. What do you think? I’m inclined to think that you’d have a pretty good argument as an individual user–that personal, noncommercial copying is permitted by the exemption. The one caveat–and this is where the
