Any Canadians accused of illegally downloading music should be aware threats of financial penalties of as much as $150,000 do not fly with the law.
In his blog, Canadian law professor and Internet expert Michael Geist posted a sample notice provided to him to by a Canadian Internet Service Provider (ISP) in which the company acting on behalf of a U.S. copyright holder tells an Internet user to settle for $20 per infringement or else face severe liabilities.
“The notice falsely warns that the recipient could be liable for up to $150,000 per infringement when the reality is that Canadian law caps liability for non-commercial infringement at $5,000 for all infringements,” Geist wrote on January 8.
Since the start of the year, ISPs have been required to send notices of infringement to subscribers suspected by copyright holders of illegally downloading movies, music and other types of media.
ISPs do not share the personal information of their subscribers with the copyright holder or the company acting on its behalf — in this case, BMG Rights Management and Rightscorps, respectively.
But in the notice, Rightscorp tells a subscriber to follow a link to settle with the company if he or she does not wish to face $150,000 of civil penalties per infringement.
“In a nutshell, Rightscorp and BMG are using the notice-and-notice system to require ISPs to send threats and misstatements of Canadian law in an effort to extract payments based on unproven infringement allegations,” Geist wrote.
“Many Canadians may be frightened into a settlement payment since they will be unaware that some of the legal information in the notice is inaccurate and that Rightscorp and BMG do not know who they are.”
The Ministry of Industry said in an emailed statement to Business In Vancouver companies cannot use these notices to demand money from Canadians.
"We expect them to play by the rules and abide by the law. Industry Canada officials will be contacting internet service providers and rights holders to work with them to put an end to these misleading notices."
