The Federal Court of Appeal ruled this week that the Crown is bound by the Copyright Act. In Manitoba v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), 2013 FCA 91 the Court made it clear that the structure of the Act, its legislative history and evolution all lead to this conclusion:
Crown bound by Copyright Act: Manitoba v Access Copyright
April 5th, 2013 by Barry Sookman No comments »Aereo legal for now in New York
April 2nd, 2013 by Barry Sookman No comments »The Second Circuit released an important opinion yesterday ruling that Aereo’s New York based Internet streaming service does not infringe the US public performance right. In WNET, Thirteen v. Aereo, Inc 2013 WL 1285591 (2nd.Cir.Apr, 1, 2013), by a two to one majority, the Court ruled that the technical architecture of the service which is based on “renting” mini-antennas and transcoders to members of the public that are used to stream over the air live broadcasts renders the service non-infringing.
Central to the Court’s ruling was it prior decision in the Cablevision case which according to the Court established the following: .
A big week in copyright, Kirtsaeng, isoHunt, and Associated Press v Meltwater
March 25th, 2013 by Barry Sookman No comments »Last 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.
Managing Intellectual Property North America Awards
March 20th, 2013 by Barry Sookman No comments »Last night I attended the Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Managing IP gala in Washington, DC. I was delighted to learn that my firm, McCarthy Tétrault, was honored with two of the 2013 North America Awards for excellence in intellectual property law.
McCarthy Tétrault was recognized as the top firm in Canada in the category of Patent Contentious. I won the award as Canada’s Outstanding IP Practitioner.
Other winners recognized for their excellence in IP including other Canadian winners can be found here.
Criminal copyright convictions of The Pirate Bay operators “necessity in democratic society” says human rights court
March 13th, 2013 by Barry Sookman 1 comment »The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that the convictions of Fredrik NEIJ and Peter SUNDE KOLMISOPPI, operators of The Pirate Bay bittorrent site did not violate Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court found that the convictions of the defendants for criminal copyright infringement did not violate their rights to freedom of expression as the convictions and jail sentences imposed by Sweden’s Court of Appeal was “necessary in a democratic society” within the meaning of Article 10 § 2 of the Convention. The application to set aside the convictions was rejected “as manifestly ill-founded”.
How to avoid misleading disclosures in online advertising
March 13th, 2013 by Barry Sookman No comments »Want to avoid making misleading disclosures in online advertising? Then the FTC’s new staff guidance document, .com Disclosures, How to Make effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising, is a must read. It provides information businesses should consider as they develop ads for online media to ensure that they comply with US law.
The overview summarizes the general principles as follows:
- The same consumer protection laws that apply to commercial activities in other media apply online, including activities in the mobile marketplace. The FTC Act’s prohibition on “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” encompasses online advertising, marketing, and sales. In addition, many Commission rules and guides are not limited to any particular medium used to disseminate claims or advertising, and therefore, apply to the wide spectrum of online activities.
Internet retransmission of broadcasts a communication to the public, rules the CJEU
March 8th, 2013 by Barry Sookman No comments »The European Court of Justice ruled yesterday that retransmitting broadcasts over the internet infringes the communication to the public right, if done without authorization. The case involved TV Catchup Limited which operated an internet based live streaming service of broadcast television programmes.
The UK High Court in ITV Broadcasting Ltd & Ors v TV Catchup Ltd [2011] EWHC 1874 (Pat) (18 July 2011) referred the case to the EU Court of Justice (the CJEU). The case involved answering two questions. First, whether grabbing the over the air broadcasts and retransmitting them over the Internet was a communication. Secondly, whether the transmissions were “to the public”. The court in Case C‑607/11 found both requirmeents were met.
This site is published by Barry Sookman personally. It is not affiliated with McCarthy Tétrault or any of its clients. Full bio 