On July 12, 2012 the Supreme Court of Canada released decisions
in five appeals on copyright cases. Each of the appeals stem from
the Federal Court of Appeal's judicial review of the Copyright
Board of Canada decisions on issues arising out of the collective
administration of copyright. In each case, the Supreme Court
decided in favour of objectors to copyright tariffs that had been
certified by the Board1. The copyright
collectives were unsuccessful in all four of the five appeals, and
only partially successful in the fifth appeal.
The five decisions have three common themes: 1) the Court
reaffirmed the principle that the Copyright Act seeks to
balance between protecting the interests of copyright owners and
providing access to, and dissemination of, owners' creations;
2) the Court has also reaffirmed the importance of technological
neutrality in construing the Copyright Act. The
Act is to be applied equally to technologically different
forms of media; and 3)
