OTTAWA – The Supreme Court sided with the likes of Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Telus, and Apple Thursday in a number of copyright cases related to the use of music on the Internet.
In the first case, the court determined that Internet service providers (ISPs) and other digital providers that offer music services should not have to pay copyright fees when music is downloaded, but that artists should be compensated when their music is streamed online.
In another case, broadcasters, TV service providers and movie theatres won’t have to pay fees for the music used in a film or a television show that they air. That’s in keeping with a similar case where the court ruled that software companies that sell their video games online should not have to pay royalties for the music that is included in those games.
The court also found that ISPs and digital providers like Apple should not have to pay fees when music downloaders listen to previews of songs, a move that it classified as ‘research’ and therefore exempt from tariffs levied under the Copyright Act.
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), which appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada last December when these cases were heard, issued a statement commending the court for upholding the rights of the majority of its members, but expressed disappointment that the rights of music creators and publishers in all of the appeals decisions were not upheld.
"The Supreme Court of Canada has reconfirmed the online rights of music creators and publishers, and we believe that that the right final decision has been made in the case of Internet streaming," said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste in the statement. "We are, however, disappointed that the court chose not to uphold the rights of our members in all of its decisions. We will continue to fight for the legal rights of our members to be compensated fairly for their work."
– Lesley Hunter
