This Week At The SCC (13/06/14)

This week, the Supreme Court of Canada issued two rulings, granted two leave to appeal applications, and dismissed three applications for leave to appeal, in cases likely to be of interest to Canadian businesses and professionals.

In R. v. Spencer, 2014 SCC 43, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the police engaged in an unconstitutional search and seizure when they obtained from an Internet service provider — without prior judicial authorization — the subscriber information associated with an IP address.

The Supreme Court of Canada also ruled in Canadian Artists' Representation v. National Gallery of Canada, 2014 SCC 42 that, inter alia, establishing a minimum fee for the use of existing works does not affect any of the rights conferred on copyright holders under s. 3 of the Copyright Act. Moreover, the Court ruled that the National Gallery of Canada failed to bargain in good faith by refusing to implement minimum fees for the licensing or assignment of the