[d@DCC] Limitations of private copying

From: David Frey <dpfrey _-at-_ shaw.ca>
To: discuss (at) list.digital-copyright.ca
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 11:56:43 -0800

Hi,

I'm writing a term paper for one of my courses at University relating to 
  computers and the blank media levy.

Before I started doing any research, I was under the impression that the 
  media levy was setup to cover the loss in sales attributed to music 
piracy.  When I say music piracy, I mean that person A creates a copy of 
the original music is created and then transfers the copy to person B. 
My understanding was that it was still illegal to burn a copy of your CD 
and give it to a friend, but that this was considered too difficult to 
enforce so the media levy was created.

My understanding at this point is that the media levy was created to 
make private copying legal.  Private copying quite clearly covers 
activities like burning a copy of a CD you own to play in your car or 
creating a mix CD comprised of tracks from other CDs you own.  To be 
honest, before doing any research, it seemed to me like this was 
completely legal and wasn't related to the media levy.

Now that you have some background on where I'm coming from, my questions 
is:  What are the limitations of private copying?

Consider the following example:
Person A buys a new CD from a store and decides that he really likes the 
band and wants to spread the word.

(case 1) Person A rips the CD to their computer's hard drive and then 
burns 10 copies on media which he payed the levy on.  Person A 
distributes the copies among 10 of his friends and keeps the original 
for himself.

It seems to me like this is outside of private copying because of the 
word 'distributes'.  I'm sure many are you are familiar with the section 
80, subsection 2, paragraph b of the copyright act which states:
"distributing, whether or not for the purpose of trade;".

Another thing I don't understand is whether Person A is even allowed to 
keep a copy of the CD they bought on their computer's hard drive since 
computer hard drives (outside of digital audio recording devices) are 
not covered by the levy.

(case 2) Person A lends his new CD to person B.  Person B makes rips the 
tracks from the CD to his computer hard drive and then burns himself a 
copy for his own use.  Person B returns the original CD to Person A, but 
keeps the copy he made.

Does this still constitute distribution?  Person B has no intent to 
distribute the copy, but the copy was made with the goal of distributing 
a copyrighted work between two people.  If case 1 is prohibited and case 
2 is not, it's easy to design a scenario where Person A lends the CD out 
10 different times and then the same result is accomplished.

Thank You,
David Frey
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