On August 25, 2017, the Canadian Copyright Board released its decision on the scope of subsection 2.4(1.1)
of the Copyright Act, which includes making a work or
other subject matter available to the public by telecommunication
"in a way that allows a member of the public to have access to
it from a place and at a time individually chosen by that member of
the public." The Board found that this provision applies when
a copy of a work or other subject matter is placed on a server in a
manner that allows it to be requested by a member of the public,
whether or not such a request ever takes place, and whether or not
the transmission is in the form of a stream or a download.
The Board found that a more limited interpretation of subsection
2.4(1.1), in which this provision applied only where a work is made
available for streaming, would not comply with Canada's
international obligations. In particular, the Board found that the
fundamental reason for the enactment of
