Copyright will be on the agenda when the Supreme Court of Canada starts its fall session this week. Five appeals from the Copyright Board are scheduled to be heard in early December.

The copyright appeals scheduled to be 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).
• Re:Sound v. Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada, et al. (SCC case #34210) which relates to whether separate tariffs apply sound recording is part of the soundtrack that are made available to the public (Dec 7).

Another intellectual property appeal is scheduled for the winter session, on February 8, 2012. The Supreme Court is tentatively scheduled to hear the appeal in Teva Canada Limited v. Pfizer Canada Inc. (Sildenafil) which relates to the sufficiency of disclosure in a patent relating to Viagra (SCC case #33951).

In the United States, Patently-O has recently published a list of patent cases being heard this session by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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