April 15, 2004

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) is appealing the recent court decision denying CRIA's request for Internet Service Providers to reveal the identities of alleged flagrant uploaders of digital music.

"We will argue that the decision was in error on a number of legal bases. In our view, Canadian copyright law does not allow people to make copies of hundreds or thousands of musical recordings for global copying, transmission and distribution to millions of strangers on the Internet," said CRIA General Counsel Richard Pfohl in a news release.

The CRIA claims retail music sales are down by more than $425 million since 1999, with staff layoffs at record companies at the 20 per cent plus level in the past year.

In February, CRIA filed motions to require five Canadian Internet service providers to disclose the identities of subscribers alleged to be large-scale infringers distributing thousands of digital music files to millions of strangers. On 31 March 2004, the court denied CRIA's motion, said a news release by the CRIA.