My replies to CSMA's interrogatories:


Q. Please provide detailed Information relating to the scope of the Party's activities, including Information on the use to which the Party put the Products.

R.

bulletI am currently a consumer of many of the goods on which this proposal intends to levy. The exception currently is dedicated MP3 player of any type and DVD copying technology of any type.
bulletI am a businessman in the business of using the goods on which this levy is intended, for uses different from the reason for the levy.
bulletI have been and continue to be a participant and in fact a driver of the recent technical revolution in general and the Internet revolution in particular, both in Canada and in the rest of the world.
bulletI have in the past been a technician working in the music recording industry.
bulletI am working in the technology industry in the design and creation of products which use some or all of the digital technology items this proposal intends to levy upon.
bulletI have in the past been an owner and manager of a retail stereo store, including the sale of recordings and playback hardware.
bulletI have in the past been the manager of a retail computer store, and have sold all manner of computer equipment, supplies, and systems.
bulletI have two teenage sons, both very computer literate, both into music, both with ability to purchase music or download and copy it (neither financially nor technically limited).
bulletI am C.E.O. of a company (Belcarra Messaging Corp.) which is in the business of creating software for use in (amongst other things) Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and other portable computer-based technologies. In addition, the company also runs a small Internet Services Provider (ISP) facility. This and all our other current computer systems uses CD-R and CD-RW technology for data backup and distribution (to customers) of log files and other digital data. The company also uses CD-R and CD-RW technologies for testing and distribution of software under its CD-Linux banner.

 


Q. If the Party is an association of organization of any kind, please provide a current and complete list of the Party's membership.

R.

I am an individual

 


Q. Which, if any, of the Products or any other blank recording media does the Party purchase and/or use?

R.

    1. 60 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      personal-none
      business-none
    2. 90 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      personal- 10-20/year to 2001, none since
      business- none
    3. 100 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      personal – none
      business - none
    4. 120 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      personal – 10-20/year to 2001, none since
      business - none
    5. any other length of audio compact cassette tape;
      personal – none
      business - none
    6. CD-R (Recordable Compact Discs);
      personal (music) none
      personal (data) 100-200/year and rising
      business (music) none
      business (data) 200-300/year and rising fast
    7. CD-RW (Re-Writable Recordable Compact Discs);
      personal (music) none
      personal (data) 11-20/year and rising
      business (music) none
      business (data) 100-200/year and rising fast
    8. CD-R-Audio (Audio Recordable Compact Discs);
      personal (music) none
      business (music) none
    9. CD-RW Audio (Audio Re-writable Recordable Compact Discs)
      personal (music) none
      business (music) none
    10. Mini-disc;
      personal (music) none
      business (music) none
    11. Removable electronic memory cards, removable flash memory storage media of any type, and removable micro-hard drives (microdrive and any similar removable hard drive);
      RAM cards - personal – none
      Flash cards – personal – 3
      Micro-hard disk – personal – none
      RAM cards - business – none in 2001 – small number (< 10) in 2002
      Flash cards – business – 30+ in 2001 and more expected in 2002
      Micro-hard disk – business – none in 2001 – small number (< 5) in 2002
    12. Recordable digital versatile discs (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or any other type of recordable or rewritable DVD);
      personal – none
      business - none
    13. Non-removable electronic memory cards or non-removable flash memory storage media of any type incorporated into an MP3 player or into any similar device with internal electronic or flash memory that is intended for use primarily to record and play music; and
      personal – none
      business - none
    14. Non-removable hard drives incorporated into an MP3 player or into any similar device with an internal hard drive that is intended for use primarily to record and play music.
      personal – none
      business - none

 

 


Q. To the extent of the Party's knowledge, which of the Products or any other blank recording media do other persons, corporations, organizations or entities who are similar in nature to the Party ("parties similarly situate") purchase and/or use?

R.

    1. 60 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      immediate family-none
      other business interests -none
    2. 90 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      immediate family - 10-20/year to 2001, none since
      other business interests - none
    3. 100 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      immediate family – none
      other business interests- none
    4. 120 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      immediate family – 10-20/year to 2001, none since
      other business interests- none
    5. any other length of audio compact cassette tape;
      immediate family – none
      other business interests- none
    6. CD-R (Recordable Compact Discs);
      immediate family (children) (music) 1999 – none, 2000 – 11, 2001 – 7
      immediate family (wife) (music) none
      immediate family (data) 10-20/year and rising
      other business interests (music) none
      other business interests (data) 200-300/year and rising fast
    7. CD-RW (Re-Writable Recordable Compact Discs);
      immediate family (music) none
      immediate family (data) 2-5/year and rising
      other business interests (music) none
      other business interests (data) 10-100/year and rising
    8. CD-R-Audio (Audio Recordable Compact Discs);
      none
    9. CD-RW Audio (Audio Re-writable Recordable Compact Discs)
      none
    10. Mini-disc;
      family (music) none
      other business interests (music) none
    11. Removable electronic memory cards, removable flash memory storage media of any type, and removable micro-hard drives (microdrive and any similar removable hard drive);
      RAM cards - none
      Flash cards - none
      Micro-hard disk – none
      RAM cards – none
      Flash cards – other business interests – 5
      Micro-hard disk –none
    12. Recordable digital versatile discs (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or any other type of recordable or rewritable DVD);
      none
    13. Non-removable electronic memory cards or non-removable flash memory storage media of any type incorporated into an MP3 player or into any similar device with internal electronic or flash memory that is intended for use primarily to record and play music; and
      none
    14. Non-removable hard drives incorporated into an MP3 player or into any similar device with an internal hard drive that is intended for use primarily to record and play music.
      none

 

 


Q. What volume of the Products or any other blank recording media does the Party purchase and/or use annually, expressed by units, recordable minutes or some other measure?

R. See answers to interrogatory 3

 


Q. To the extent of the Party's knowledge, what volume of the Products or any other blank recording media is used by parties similarly situate to the Party annually, expressed by units, recordable minutes or some other measure?

R. See answer to interrogatory 4

 


Q. From what source does the Party obtain the Products and/or other blank recording media that is utilized by the Party?

R. Various retail outlets including but not limited to:
Costco
Future Shop
London Drugs

 


Q. Please provide a detailed description of the use(s) which the Party makes of the Products and/or other blank recording media. Please provide examples of each type of material that the Party or its members record on each of the Products or other blank recording media.

R.

    1. 60 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      none
    2. 90 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      tape programs from radio – typically talkshows
      copy personal recordings from micro-cassette dictation
      copy music programs from radio (none in past 4 years)
    3. 100 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      none
    4. 120 minute audio compact cassette tapes;
      same as (ii) above
    5. any other length of audio compact cassette tape;
      none
    6. CD-R (Recordable Compact Discs);
      create bootable Linux disks for testing and use in local home network
      create software archives of open source software
      create backup copies of proprietary software
      create backup copies of personal data files
      create backup copies of business data files
      create copies of digital images files from personal video tape
      create copies of digital images files from personal digital camera
      create copies of digital images of scanned documents
      create copies of all other manner of personal digital information
    7. CD-RW (Re-Writable Recordable Compact Discs);
      see (vi) above
    8. CD-R-Audio (Audio Recordable Compact Discs);
      none
    9. CD-RW Audio (Audio Re-writable Recordable Compact Discs)
      none
    10. Mini-disc;
      none
    11. Removable electronic memory cards, removable flash memory storage media of any type, and removable micro-hard drives (microdrive and any similar removable hard drive);
      add additional storage and RAM to PDA and laptop computer systems for use as personal and business computer systems.
    12. Recordable digital versatile discs (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or any other type of recordable or rewritable DVD);
      none
    13. Non-removable electronic memory cards or non-removable flash memory storage media of any type incorporated into an MP3 player or into any similar device with internal electronic or flash memory that is intended for use primarily to record and play music; and
      none
    14. Non-removable hard drives incorporated into an MP3 player or into any similar device with an internal hard drive that is intended for use primarily to record and play music.
      none

 

 


Q. Who owns the copyright or any other rights associated with the material that the Party record on the Products or other blank recording media? Please provide all available Information Relating to these rights.

R.

bulletLinux operating system – Copyright Linus Torvalds – licensed under the GNU GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html)
bulletOpen Source software in general, copyright many people but licensed under the GNU GPL license.
bulletPurchased software (copied for backup purposes only) may be covered under the GNU license or may be from any one of a number of companies including but not limited to:
bulletRed Hat
bulletMicrosoft
bulletIBM
bulletCorel
bulletAdobe
bulletSmall Computer Company
bulletData copied to digital media from personal sources includes e-mail (incoming) which is copyright its various authors. E-mail outgoing is copyright Richard C. Pitt and/or family members
bulletOther personal data is copyright Richard C. Pitt and/or family
bulletData copied to digital media from customer sources and business sources might include e-mail and other correspondence as well as database information and settings and parameters for various software products both Open Source and proprietary. Copyright resides in either the various owners of the systems (business systems and customer systems) or individuals if they are subject to various forms of employment contracts, etc.
bulletIn the case of RAM cards used in PDA and laptop systems, the use is ephemeral – in the course of using the RAM for extending the RAM in the computer, and is not considered copying, as any information disappears when the power is removed.

 


Q. Please provide a detailed description of any harm, such as lost sales, additional costs, levy evasion, the Party believes it, or others similarly situate, will suffer if the private copying levies proposed by the CPCC are certified by the Copyright Board. Please provide copies of all Information that supports the response provided.

R.

While there are some obvious harms which can be directly attributed to the absolute amount or relative increase in levy amounts on the levied goods, there are also some indirect harms which must be considered both in the light of the absolute amounts proposed as well as in the light of the effects that might occur if the proposed levies are upheld in any significant way. These subsidiary effects include the possibility that other jurisdictions might follow the type and amount of the levies proposed, affecting not only Canadian market for these goods, but world market for them. Since I and my various business interests are involved in the world market for portable computer devices, many of which use some of the proposed levy media, this cannot be dismissed.

Harm falls into several categories:

bulletDirect cost of continuing to do what I/we have done in the past
bulletUnits multiplied by levy
bulletDirect cost of expanding what I/we do as the technologies and market place advance and evolve
bulletUnits multiplied by levy
bulletIndirect monetary harm due to changes in market and availability of products currently used
bulletRequirement to try to bypass levy through purchase of non-levied goods from foreign resellers:
bulletFreight charges
bulletNeed to purchase in larger quantities to offset freight charges and allow for longer delivery time from order will increase carrying costs on business and personal inventory
bulletPotential for my business interests (and those of others) being caught in dealing in "grey market" purchase of levied items through inadvertent or unknowing purchase by employees via Internet from outside Canada, and subsequent sale of these items to customers (even with data on them)
bulletIndirect monetary harm due to changes in market for services I and my various business interests are now engaged in.
bulletIf this levy proposal is adopted in significant numbers of other jurisdictions (of the 25 or so currently signatory to the type of Copyright Act that allows for a levy) the market for portable products which make use of the levied items such as RAM, Flash and micro-hard disk drive will fall dramatically. Since this market is a significant part of our business, this will have a dramatic impact on our business; either by forcing us to move to other product lines, or by lowering the number of projects overall for companies such as ours to the point where our earnings will be impacted.
bulletLower need for product containing levied items such as micro-hard disk drives will reduce "economies of scale" and subsequent lower prices
bulletIncreased cost of finding contracts due to lower demand for products using levied items
bulletThe cost of my time in responding to and fighting this levy
bullet1 man/month of my time researching and preparing the initial objection
bulletI expect to put up to one more man/month leading up to the final meeting in October
bulletI expect to incur expenses of the order of $5000.00 in air fare and hotel, etc. in attending the final meeting.
bulletLost opportunity of my time spent on this matter.
bulletThe social cost of confusing my sons about whether copying in general is legal and/or moral.

   


 




Copyright © 1993-2007 Richard C. Pitt - all rights reserved
Updated June 17, 2005