— 13 — digital/electronic form must also be a physical material object at the same time.”6 (b) “... a copy in digital/electronic form can only be made by storing its contents in a physical digital/electronic medium … As such, a copy in digital/electronic form is necessarily a physical material object.”7 (c) “... ‘distribution of copies’ is only meant for acts involving the physical transfer of material objects. If contents are transmitted without such physical transfer, the act will not be ‘distribution of copies’, and it can only be infringing because of other provisions...”8 39. This is an ingenious argument which was advanced with ability and enterprise by Mr Pun. It must, however, be rejected. I agree of course that an electronic copy must exist in some physical medium or environment and not in a vacuum. But as the evidence established and as everyday experience indicates, electronic data constituting a digital copy of a work can plainly be transmitted via the medium of the network of computers and cables making up the internet. Electronic copies can thus plainly be transmitted without first being stored in a tangible article such as a CD or DVD to be physically handed over to a recipient. 40. The point may be illustrated by two commonplace examples: (a) An academic publishes a book review which he has written on his computer and stored on his hard disk as an electronic document 6 Supp Case §3. 7 Supp Case §5. 8 Supp Case §20.

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