Copyright Board Rules iPods to be Levied (Again)

The Copyright Board of Canada has ruled that digital audio recorders such as iPods may be subject to a levy under Canada's private copying regime. The decision stands in stark contrast to a 2004 decision of the Federal Court of Appeal, reversing the Board's earlier decision to levy iPods, stating that such devices are not media leviable under the regime. The Board went on to comment that "cellular phones and computers" that are "ordinarily used by individual consumers to make private copies" are potentially leviable, adding weight to the argument that the act of making a copy of a song to a hard drive through the use of a file-sharing service does not infringe copyright. The decision will likely be appealed.