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ARTICLE · 18 JULY 2012

Copyright In Transition: Supreme Court Of Canada Rules On Five Copyright Appeals

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada issued much anticipated rulings on a series of cases concerning copyright royalties for downloading and streaming of various kinds of musical works over the Internet, classroom copying of literary and artistic works, and recorded music in soundtracks that accompany movies and TV shows.

CanadaIntellectual Property
Casey Chisick
Casey Chisick
Steven Kennedy
Steven Kennedy
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Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada issued much anticipated rulings on a series of cases concerning copyright royalties for downloading and streaming of various kinds of musical works over the Internet, classroom copying of literary and artistic works, and recorded music in soundtracks that accompany movies and TV shows.1 Following closely on the heels of June's passage of Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, these cases herald significant changes to Canada's copyright landscape this summer.

The full impact of the decisions on copyright stakeholders – rightsholders, distributors, consumers and the general public – will take some time to digest, as will the implications of those decisions on the interpretation of the Copyright Act in general. In the meantime, here is an initial overview of this week's developments.

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