During the copyright reform process leading up Bill C-32 (the Copyright Modernization Act), some proponents of reform had advocated broadening the Copyright Act’s fair dealing exception to a US style fair use regime. This was opposed by a wide spectrum of the Canadian creative community. Eventually the proposal was not adopted when Bill C-11 was finally proclaimed into force. See, Barry Sookman and Dan Glover, Why Canada Should Not Adopt Fair Use: A joint submission to the Copyright Consultation
Archive for the ‘Fair Dealing’ category
A big week in copyright, Kirtsaeng, isoHunt, and Associated Press v Meltwater
March 25th, 2013Last week was a very eventful one in copyright law with three significant copyright rulings from US courts. The US Supreme Court ruled that importing genuine grey market works into the US does not infringe copyright. The Ninth Circuit affirmed a ruling that the Canadian bitTorrent site isoHunt is liable for contributory copyright infringement. Last, a US District Court ruled that Meltwater’s controversial electronic news clipping service is liable for copyright infringement and is not protected by fair use doctrine.
Copyright law 2012: the year in review in Canada and around the world
January 11th, 2013Yesterday, I gave a talk at the Law Society of Upper Canada’s 17h Annual Intellectual Property Law: The Year in Review program. My talk canvassed developments in copyright in Canada and around the world in 2012. My slides are shown below. The associated paper prepared in collaboration with Glen Bloom, with the help of others, is available here.
The following copyright cases from Canada, the USA, UK and Ireland, Australia, and Europe are dealt with in the paper and slides.
Canada
Adobe Systems Incorporated v. Dale Thompson DBAAppletree Solutions, 2012 FC 1219
Aga Khan v. Tajdin, 2012 FCA 12
Copyright Board refuses CAB request to rescind CSI tariff
December 21st, 2012The Copyright Board released a decision earlier today dismissing the application of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) for a decision reducing the royalties paid by commercial radio stations to CSI, AVLA/SOPROQ and ArtistI by 90 per cent, from November 7, 2012 until the Board renders a decision on the merits in the commercial radio tariff proceeding.
The CAB contended there is no longer a legal basis for a tariff targeting the reproduction of a sound recording, or a performer’s performance or work that is embodied in a sound recording, by commercial radio stations as a result of the recent Bill C-11 amendments to the Copyright Act and the fair dealing decision of the Supreme Court in SOCAN v. Bell Canada. The CAB also asked the Board to issue a decision rescinding the CSI tariff.
When a tweet crosses the line
September 26th, 2012I can’t figure this one out. I’m a lawyer, not a psychologist.
After the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in the Access Copyright case, two academics, Michael Geist and Ariel Katz, stepped up their attacks on Access Copyright.
Michael Geist claimed that the Supreme Court’s decision eviscerated Access Copyright’s business model. In a reply blog post I showed this claim did not stand up to scrutiny.
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