A few updates over the last few days:
Proposed Rules of Practice and Procedure for the Copyright Board have been published for consultation. The rules address notices of grounds within 7 days of filing a tariff proposal, joint notices of issues, case management, electronic documents and interveners, and would apply to new and existing proceedings.
The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision today in York University v Access Copyright. The Court agreed with the Federal Court of Appeal that the tariff is not enforceable against York University, saying that a user is entitled to obtain its rights through other means than a tariff, so if the user makes an unauthorized use, the appropriate remedy is an action for infringement. The Court did not endorse the fair dealing analysis conducted by the lower courts and declined to make a decision on fair dealing but did discuss that in the educational context it is not only the institutional perspective that matters.
The Copyright Board has provided various notices (link) on proceedings pending before it under the transitional provisions of the “Time Limits in Respect of Matters Before the Copyright Board Regulations” including for matters awaiting hearing and matters where the 12-month reserve period has already expired.
Regulations relating to the Copyright Board were published yesterday, “Time Limits in Respect of Matters Before the Copyright Board Regulations“. The Regulations impose a 12-month time limit for the Board to issue decisions after submissions, with certain exceptions.
The Copyright Board has launched a new website (https://cb-cda.gc.ca/) and alerts should now be working for Copyright Board activity if this is enabled in your personal IPPractice email preferences. Continue reading Copyright Board
I have added Proposed Tariffs published by the Copyright Board to the alerts that are available in the daily IPPractice email. These alerts, in addition to the existing alerts for Copyright Board decisions and procedural rulings are not enabled by default but can be added through your email preferences. Continue reading Copyright Board
Proposed regulations on “Establishing Time Limits in Relation to Matters Before the Copyright Board” have been published in the Canada Gazette Part 1. The purpose of the regulations is in part to “prescribe the amount of time the Board may take to render decisions”. Continue reading Copyright Board
Introduced yesterday, budget bill C-86 includes changes to the Patent Act, Trade-marks Act, Copyright Act, enacts the College of Patent Agents and Trade-mark Agents Act and makes changes for IP licenses in insolvency. Some highlights include a college to regulate agents, reform of the Copyright Board, allows patent file histories to be admissible to rebut claim constructions, add bad faith as a ground of opposition for trademarks, and adds requirements for notices under the notice-and-notice copyright regime.