Toronto — Electronics retailers and manufacturers had a dramatic falling out with the recording industry Tuesday over the contentious hidden fees consumers pay to copy music for personal use.

At a Toronto press conference, a who's who of Canadian merchandising decried a copyright levy the music industry collects from the sale of electronics products, and slammed a proposal to increase the fees next year.

Calling the music industry's proposal "an unprecedented problem," Diane Brisebois, president and chief executive officer of the Retail Council of Canada, predicted consumers will be "outraged" by the planned levy hikes.

"The levy regime is fundamentally flawed and should be repealed," agreed Kevin Layden, president and chief operating officer of Best Buy Co.'s Canadian division, a group that includes the recently acquired Future Shop retail chain. Ms. Brisebois and Mr. Layden belong to the newly created Canadian Coaltion for Fair Digital Access, a 16-member group that includes Wal-Mart Canada Corp., Motorola Canada and Intertan Inc., the parent of Radio Shack.

Since 1997, consumers have paid a hidden charge on analog cassette tapes, MiniDiscs and blank CDs to allow the copying of music for personal use. The levy is collected by the Canadian Private Copying Collective, an industry group representing the interests of songwriters, artists, publishers and record companies.

The CPCC has asked the Copyright Board of Canada to increase the fees for many products next year. For example, the retail price of a 100-pack of blank CDs may rise to $88 a pack, from about $50 today. In addition, the music coalition wants to add more products to the levy list, including recordable DVDs and MP3 players.

"It's just not good public policy," said Brian Levy, president and CEO of Intertan. "We think it's only right in the interests of Canada, Canadians, Canadian businesses ... to repeal this levy and abolish it entirely."

By midafternoon, the CPCC had issued its angry response, stating it "is outraged that a coalition of electronics retailers and computer hardware manufacturers would use a thinly veiled advocacy campaign to drive consumers to retail outlets for the holiday season."

In an interview, David Basskin, director of the CPCC, described the attack on the copright levy as "hypocritical" and "disingenuous." Products covered by the levy are clearly used to copy music, he said.

"These companies depend on their very existence on intellectual patent laws. If you interfere with a patent, a trademark or a copyright of any one of those companies, you better have a bunch of good lawyers ready to defend you," Mr. Basskin said. "It's simple hypocrisy to say that it is all the fault of the people who are selling products that aren't encrypted and then to be in the business of selling products which allow the copying of unencrypted music."

The copyright board is scheduled to hold public hearings on the proposed levy increases in January. In addition, the House of Commons standing committee on Canadian heritage will conduct a review of the Copyright Act sometime next year.