For those interested in the copyright action started yesterday, T-2046-12, the action is a claim for restitution of past copyright tariff payments on ringtones paid by the plaintiffs to SOCAN.

Howard Knopf has posted a copy of the Statement of Claim in T-2046-12.

The statement of claim requests $15million for amounts paid since 2004 under various tariffs authorized by the Copyright Board. In July, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in ESA v. SOCAN, 2012 SCC 34 and Rogers v. SOCAN, 2012 SCC 35, that downloads were not ‘communications to the public’ and therefore certain tariffs for communications rights were not required for ‘downloads’.

The plaintiffs are also challenging the ringtone tariffs before the Copyright Board.

“On August 1, 2012, Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications Partnership, TELUS Communications Company and Quebecor Media Inc. asked, pursuant to section 66.52 of the Copyright Act, that the above-referenced tariffs be varied so as to repeal them.”

 [Update: Howard Knopf has posted some of the background on the Copyright Board proceeding.]