Record Industry Sued 2009-12-08 by Against Miik! | 51 Comments | Chet Baker was a leading jazz musician in the 1950s, playing trumpet and providing vocals. Baker died in 1988, yet he is about to add a new claim to fame as the lead plaintiff in possibly the largest copyright infringement case in Canadian history. His estate, which still owns the copyright in more than 50 of his works, is part of a massive class-action lawsuit that has been underway for the past year.
The infringer has effectively already admitted owing at least $50 million and the full claim could exceed $60 billion. If the dollars don't shock, the target of the lawsuit undoubtedly will: The defendants in the case are Warner Music Canada, Sony BMG Music Canada, EMI Music Canada, and Universal Music Canada, the four primary members of the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
The CRIA members were hit with the lawsuit in October 2008 after artists decided to turn to the courts following decades of frustration with the rampant infringement (I am adviser to the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, which is co-counsel, but have had no involvement in the case).
The claims arise from a longstanding practice of the recording industry in Canada, described in the lawsuit as "exploit now, pay later if at all." It involves the use of works that are often included in compilation CDs (ie. the top dance tracks of 2009) or live recordings. The record labels create, press, distribute and sell the CDs, but do not obtain the necessary copyright licences.
Instead, the names of the songs on the CDs are placed on a "pending list," which signifies that approval and payment is pending. The pending list dates back to the late 1980s, when Canada changed its copyright law by replacing a compulsory licence with the need for specific authorization for each use. It is perhaps better characterized as a copyright infringement admission list, however, since for each use of the work, the record label openly admits that it has not obtained copyright permission and not paid any royalty or fee.
Over the years, the size of the pending list has grown dramatically, now containing more than 300,000 songs.
From Beyonce to Bruce Springsteen, the artists waiting for payment are far from obscure, as thousands of Canadian and foreign artists have seen their copyrights used without permission and payment.
It is difficult to understand why the industry has been so reluctant to pay its bills. Some works may be in the public domain or belong to a copyright owner difficult to ascertain or locate, yet the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Cockburn, Sloan, or the Watchmen are not hidden from view.
The more likely reason is that the record labels have had little motivation to pay up. As the balance has grown, David Basskin, the president and CEO of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd., notes in his affidavit that "the record labels have devoted insufficient resources for identifying and paying the owners of musical works on the pending lists." The CRIA members now face the prospect of far greater liability.
The class action seeks the option of statutory damages for each infringement. At $20,000 per infringement, potential liability exceeds $60 billion.
These numbers may sound outrageous, yet they are based on the same rules that led the recording industry to claim a single file sharer is liable for millions in damages.
After years of claiming Canadian consumers disrespect copyright, the irony of having the recording industry face a massive lawsuit will not be lost on anyone, least of all the artists still waiting to be paid. Indeed, they are also seeking punitive damages, arguing "the conduct of the defendant record companies is aggravated by their strict and unremitting approach to the enforcement of their copyright interests against consumers."
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/735096--geist-record-industry-faces-liability-over-infringement
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hollyyy shittt
inb4 Chet Baker's music getting alot more attention suddenly.
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HAHAHA THE IRONY.
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wow
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i love sarah mclachlan
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HOLY FUCKING SHIT MAN
That's incredible.
I just want to see if the companies can actually pay up that enormous debt and survive, particularly with economic crisis and such.
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Bruce Cockburn rules.
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fun how ironic this all is.
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CRIA Copyright Infringement Suit is this... This has been posted already... But yeah it is really surprising I had no idea something like this was going on.
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This is the best news I've heard in a while. About time someone topples the giants.
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Man, that's really fucking crazy.
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This is awesome, finally the Exploiters will pay up the a** for cheating bands out of their hard earned money.
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I didn't know who Chet Baker was before this article, I think he's the greatest.
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Look forward to a lot less music coming out of Canada... People are absolute morons for applauding this.
The worst part is that since Nickelback is signed to Roadrunner, it won't even affect them...
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Haha fuckers. I say we let them off the hook but only if they chill the fuck out about filesharing.
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EPIC irony
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NOT, do you really think this is going to cripple the Canadian music industry to the point that they can't release music? Surely you don't believe big business takes money seriously.
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pretty great
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oh man this irony is killing me
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I just came.
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ewwwwww....
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Something tells me that if the major labels were to all go bankrupt it would have some negative effects on the music world, but so far I can't think of anything.
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Look forward to a lot less music coming out of Canada... People are absolute morons for applauding this.
Like Canada produces so much good music hahahaha.
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Fuck thats so crazy
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Wow. This is crazy! Kind of exciting though.
Pretty cool.
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"Like Canada produces so much good music hahahaha."
Lol true but that's beside the point. Although I do enjoy me some Arcade Fire.
I'd argue my point but this has been done so many times before I don't even feel like it. Read Plath's Filesharing feature from months ago to find out what I think...
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RAGE AGAINST THE INDUSTRY!
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I hear your point and it's totally valid, I was just messing around hahaha. I just find 99.99% of the stuff on major labels to be atrocious, hence why this is good to my ears.
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Victory!
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Borat voice: HEY FAVE!!!!!!! (translates to High Five)
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"I hear your point and it's totally valid, I was just messing around hahaha. I just find 99.99% of the stuff on major labels to be atrocious, hence why this is good to my ears."
Heh I know, I detected the sarcasm in your type. And for the record (puns lol) I hate most of what comes out of major labels, I just don't see the suing of them as being good for the industry as a whole.
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$60 Billion is a ridiculous amount of money and it probably won't go through.
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Regardless of whether or not the owed money is paid in full or not this is certainly gonna shake up the music industry as a whole
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Oh, the irony...
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Irony is a dead scene
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more like an expensive scene
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Very true.
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Dillinger Escape Plan/Bomb The Music Industry! split-EP
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Dillinger Escape Plan/Bomb The Music Industry! split-EP
i would, in all honesty, cream my pants like 20 times over
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idk what you guys are on about...a lot of good music comes from Canada. Alexisonfire, Arcade Fire, Venetian Snares are just some of my fav artists from there...
about the topic, i truly have no idea whether this will be bad or good. just have to wait and see how it turns...
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The industry NEEDS a major reform or steps to a reform put in place now
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irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony irony
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This is the best news I've heard in a while. About time someone topples the giants.
Wizard, you are thee man.
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These numbers may sound outrageous, yet they are based on the same rules that led the recording industry to claim a single file sharer is liable for millions in damages
FUCK YES!
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holy shit this is crazy. i hope it goes through.
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I actually knew of Chet Baker before this article.
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if irony were made of strawberries, needless to say, we'd be drinking a lot of smoothies right now
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nothing drastic will come of this
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"nothing drastic will come of this"
If there is enough publicity, something drastic will most certainly come of this. Everyone and their mother was talking about the recent millions-of-dollars lawsuits against that mom and that college student. Surely you don't think the big guys of the recording industry can keep up with this fear-mongering after being exposed as hypocrites?
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idk what you guys are on about...a lot of good music comes from Canada.
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i fucking love this article and if it resolves in the favour of the claimants it's gonna be a massive step forward for, well, yknow
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wow fuck those record companies thats sketchy as fuck... this shit goes back 30 years?
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