Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in the case of Re:Sound v. Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada, et al. (SCC case #34210) which is an appeal from Federal Court of Appeal decision 2011 FCA 70.

The question considered by the Federal Court of Appeal was:

Is anyone entitled to equitable remuneration pursuant to section 19 of the Copyright Act, R.C.S. 1985, c. C-42 [the Act] when a published sound recording is part of the soundtrack that accompanies a motion picture that is performed in public or a television program that is communicated to the public by telecommunication?

In addition to granting the leave application, the Supreme Court also ordered that the appeal would have an accelerated schedule and would be heard on December 6 or 7, 2011 at the same time as four other copyright appeals arising from the Copyright Board. The other appeals being heard 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 (Dec 6).
• 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’ (Dec 6).
• Entertainment Software Association et al. v. SOCAN (#33921) on whether a tariff is appropriate for music contained within games downloaded over the internet (Dec 6).
• 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 (Dec 7).

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