Users’ Rights and Realities: CCH, Fair Dealing, and the Experiences at Canadian Cultural Institutions

Recent research is shining a new light onto the Supreme Court of Canada’s (SCC) decision that is said to have “reconceptualized” fair dealing as an integral part of copyright law in Canada (Craig, p. 449). During a 29 September 2014 lecture in the IPOsgoode Speaks Series, Dr. Emily Hudson, the Career Development Fellow in Intellectual Property Law at the Oxford […]

Supreme Court set to revisit technological neutrality in CBC v SODRAC

On September 4, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal in CBC v SODRAC 2003 Inc which considered the issue of whether broadcasters must pay royalties on ephemeral or incidental copies of an audiovisual work created during the preparation of that work for broadcast. The case arose out […]

Music and Copyright: How the Supreme Court Struck the Right Note in Robinson (Even if its Timing was a Little Off!)

In the recent case of Cinar Corporation v Robinson, the Supreme Court of Canada considered the scope of copyright in a children’s television show. The defendants’ show, Robinson Sucroë, was, frankly, so similar in its essential elements to that developed by plaintiff Claude Robinson that few people, if any, were surprised by the Court’s finding […]

The Context of the Supreme Court’s Copyright Cases

In the summer of 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada created history by simultaneously releasing five copyright judgments: Entertainment Software Association v Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada [ESA],[1] Rogers Communications Inc. v Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada [Rogers],[2] Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada […]

Technological Neutrality: (Pre)Serving the Purposes of Copyright Law

In the realm of law, neutrality is widely hailed as a fundamental principle of fairness, justice and equity; it is also, however, widely criticized as a myth that too often obscures the inevitable reality of perspective, interest or agenda. It should come as little surprise, then, that the principle of technological neutrality, recently employed by […]

Sitting This One Out: SCC Refuses to Clarify “Promise of a Patent” Doctrine

Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) denied leave to appeal in the case Eli Lilly Canada Inc v Novopharm Ltd, passing on an opportunity to clarify the controversial “promise of the patent” utility requirement for Canadian pharmaceutical patents.

The Arithmetic of Fair Dealing at the Supreme Court of Canada

In the 2012 Supreme Court of Canada copyright cases, the Court found an opportunity to redefine the law of fair dealing in Canada. While the Court acknowledged that fair dealing is a question of fact, and thereby properly adjudicated by triers of fact like the Copyright Board of Canada, the Court stepped in to revisit […]

Canada’s Top Court Gives Canadians Something to Get Excited About, Generic Viagra!

On November 8, 2012 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its eagerly anticipated decision in the “Viagra Appeal”. In a unanimous decision written by Justice LeBel, the SCC found the patent at issue invalid for insufficient disclosure. This decision marks the end of a lengthy legal battle between Teva and Pfizer over the validity […]

SOCAN v. Bell: A Victory for Fair Dealing, Consumers?

Sometimes called “the Apple iTunes” case, SOCAN v Bell, 2012 SCC 36 was one of the five copyright rulings released by the Supreme Court of Canada last week. The case concluded that short preview clips streamed by online music retailers qualify as fair dealing for the purpose of research under s. 29 of the Copyright […]

Re:Sound v. MPTAC: SCC Upholds Copyright Board's Decision

On July 12, 2012, in a unanimous 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal launched by Re:Sound, rejecting an application for Tariffs on soundtracks accompanying cinematographic works. The SCC held that a sound recording accompanied by a video is precluded from collecting the s.19 remuneration right.