SCC Addresses Technological Neutrality In Long-Awaited CBC v. SODRAC Decision

On November 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. SODRAC 2003 Inc. The Court upheld the Copyright Board's (Board) decision that broadcast-incidental copies of musical works are reproductions of such works under section 3(1)(d) of the Copyright Act. However, the Court dismissed the Board's determination of the licence fees payable in respect of the making of such copies. The Court remitted the matter back to the Board for redetermination on the basis that, in determining the licence fees, the Board had failed to apply the principles of technological neutrality and balance.

Background

Section 70.2 of the Copyright Act provides the Board with the jurisdiction to fix royalties in individual cases for licences between a collective society and any person seeking to make use of a copyright protected work.