Jenna Wilson and I wrote an article for The Lawyers Weekly, May 6, 2011 issue, on the series of copyright appeals that will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The appeals discussed in the article are:

• SOCAN v. Bell Canada et al. (#33800) which relates to the previewing of music and whether that activity falls within the ‘fair dealing’ research exception.
• Rogers Communications Inc. et al. v. SOCAN (#33922) which raises the issue of whether a communication to an individual over the internet is a ‘communication to the public’.
• Entertainment Software Association et al. v. SOCAN (#33921) on whether a tariff is appropriate for music contained within games downloaded over the internet.

Since the publication deadline for this article, the Supreme Court of Canada has granted leave on a further copyright case, as announced last week, in Province of Alberta as represented by the Minister of Education, et al. v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency Operating as “Access Copyright” (#33888) which relates to the educational use exception to fair dealing.

More information about these and other intellectual property proceedings at the Supreme Court are available on the Supreme Court litigation page.