Copyright Enfingement

BMG Canada Inc. v. John Doe

There are reasonable grounds on which to prove that copyright infringement did occur. An infringement of a copyright is defined as "the reproduction, distribution, performance, or display of any copyrighted work without permission of the copyright owner or without a compulsory license." The copyrighted material was used in a manner that violates the copyright owner's exclusive rights. The Canadian Copyright Act of 1985 states that "only the copyright owner(s) have the exclusive rights to reproduce or make copies of the copyrighted material, and only the copyright owner(s) have the exclusive rights to distribute copies of the copyrighted material to the public." The acts of downloading and file swapping clearly violate the copyright laws, as those persons sharing the files are unlawfully making unauthorized copies of the copyrighted material without the permission of the owner(s) and without paying for the use of the material. When prosecuting the offence of copyright infringement as a strict liability tort or crime, the plaintiff must only prove that the act of copying, or actus reus, was committed by the defendant. Subsequently, there need not be any proof of mens rea. Mistake of fact is not a defense for the unlawful downloading of music on the Internet. The defendants admit to making the conscious decision of downloading the copyrighted material and placing their personal copies into their shared directories. These shared directories were accessible by other Internet users, hence the term "shared." Whether or not the defendants were aware that others downloaded these copies is irrelevant to the fact that the defendants committed the act of unlawful downloading and made these files accessible for further unlawful file sharing. It is merely hearsay to claim that the defendants intended to use the downloaded material for personal use only. Hence, this circumstantial evidence cannot be used in their defence. Therefore, it can be held that the defendants actions are sufficient in constituting the element of actus reus, which alone, is required in proving a case of copyright infringement.

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