The Canadian Supreme Court issued the long-awaited Tariff 22 decision this morning. The court allowed the appeal, overturning a Federal Court decision to impose liability on ISPs for caching of content. The case also has a key jurisdictional element as the court ruled that there may be liability under Canadian copyright law at both the country where the music was transmitted as well as where it was received. The bottom line — the ISPs are big winners as they have had their position as an intermediary strongly affirmed by the court. When combined with another Supreme Court decision from earlier this year (CCH), the Canadian Supreme Court has made it very clear that ISPs should not be held responsible for copyright holders claims of infringement where they act as conduits for the transmission of data. There are three other key elements to the case. First, the court addresses the issue of Internet jurisdiction and rightly concludes that Canadian law may extend outside the country in certain circumstances. Second, it raises the prospect for a notice and takedown system, suggesting that the government should consider establishing rules around this issue. Third, one judge dives into the peer-to-peer file sharing case, expressing significant concern over the prospect for monitoring end users downloading habits and cautioning that copyright law should be interpreted with full respect for privacy rights. see: CAIP v. SOCAN also see: ISPs Free From Paying Royalties for Downloads
Supreme Court Issues Tariff 22 Decision
June 30, 2004
Tags: supreme court / Tariff 22Copyright Microsite - Music IndustryCopyright ColumnsCopyright Microsite - Canadian Copyright
Share this post

Law Bytes
Episode 137 – The CRTC Shrugged: A Special Law Bytes Podcast on the Industry Committee Hearing Into the Rogers Outage
byMichael Geist

July 18, 2022
Michael Geist
July 11, 2022
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
The Staffieri or Scott Quiz: Can You Tell the Difference Between the Rogers CEO and the CRTC Chair?
The CRTC Shrugged: A Special Law Bytes Podcast on the Industry Committee Hearing Into the Rogers Outage
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 136: Jeremy de Beer on SOCAN v. ESA, the Supreme Court’s Latest Endorsement of Copyright Balance and Technological Neutrality
Supreme Court of Canada on Copyright: “Copyright Law Does Not Exist Solely for the Benefit of Authors”
Why The Government’s “Policy Intentions” For Bill C-11 Don’t Trump the Actual Text