Court rules against recording industry

The Canadian Federal Court says computer users who make music available on the internet can not be sued. The recording industry said it would appeal the Dec

Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled that the Canadian Recording Industry Association did not prove there was copyright infringement by 29 so-called "music uploaders."

He said downloading a song or making files available in shared directories, like those on the popular Web site Kazaa, do not constitute copyright infringement under Canadian law.

"No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorised the reproduction of sound recordings," von Finckenstein wrote in his 28-page ruling.

"They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P," or person-to-person, service.

He compared the action to a photocopy machine in a library.