CRIA Mounties bust Ottawa store owner
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, working for the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America) at taxpayer expense, have busted an Ottawa record store owner under the Canadian Copyright Act.
The Mounties “raided” Legend Records in April “after an undercover agent bought CDs in January,” says the Ottawa Citizen. “Agents from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) subsequently said the CDs violated Canadian copyright law.”
Far from “subsequently,” in all likelihood, the CRIA was behind the ‘raid’ in the first place and now the store owner, David Nolan, has been given “three months to make a $1,000 donation to the charity of his choice” and is slated to appear in court again on April 1.
The RCMP seized about 500 CDs in the April raid, says the story, which has Nolan’s lawyer, Mark Lazarovitz, saying “99.9 per cent” of Nolan’s collection was legitimate” and “that it makes little sense to go after a man who is essentially supporting the recording industry when illegally downloaded music is rampant.”
The final figure of 100 illegal CDs “was a somewhat arbitrary figure,” says the story, adding:
“Nolan said he often tracks down rare CDs that are unavailable in North America to satisfy his customers. Often the original copyright holders are dead, he said.”
“I can’t afford to fight it,” the Ottawa Citizen quotes him as saying, adding he felt “ripped off.”
Another noteworthy triumph for the CRIA.
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