SOCAN has filed a motion for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in the case involving fair dealing and online music previews. The Federal Court of Appeal upheld the Copyright Board’s ruling that such previews could be viewed as consumer research and qualify for fair dealing consideration.
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Federal Court of Appeal Rules Song Previews Can Be Fair Dealing
The Federal Court of Appeal today issued an important decision confirming the broad scope of fair dealing in Canada [link not yet available]. At issue was whether "research" within fair dealing could extend to song previews that are made available on sites like iTunes where a consumer can freely listen to roughly 30 seconds of a song. The Copyright Board of Canada ruled in 2007 that a broad and liberal interpretation of fair dealing meant that it could be included since the preview was effectively consumer research on whether to purchase the song. SOCAN disagreed and sought judicial review.
The Federal Court of Appeal has affirmed the Copyright Board's interpretation, opening the door to many other consumer research possibilities under the current fair dealing provision. While SOCAN argued that research should be limited to scientific-type inquiry in a formal setting, the court disagreed, stating:
Why SOCAN Wanted To Keep Its Copyright Submission Secret
Howard Knopf provides his take on why SOCAN wanted to keep its copyright submission secret. The key issue – retroactive legislative reform.
Vancouver Buskers Face SOCAN Royalty Demand
The Vancouver Sun reports on new SOCAN demands that buskers in the Vancouver transit system pay performance royalties that could run up to $1500 per year.
SOCAN’s Secret Copyright Submission Posted Online
The government has now completed posting all the submissions it received during the copyright consultation (I'll be posting a final summary shortly). Interestingly, the final submission to be posted was from SOCAN, but it came with some controversy. Sources say that SOCAN requested that its submission not be posted online. The terms of the consultation clearly indicated that all submissions would be posted, so it is difficult to identify the grounds for non-disclosure. Ultimately, the government posted access to the submission, though not the submission itself. This means that anyone can obtain a PDF copy of the submission via email, but it will not be searchable like every other submission. Note that this also raises privacy concerns as interested Canadians are required to provide personal information in order to obtain a copy of the SOCAN document, creating a list of everyone who has requested a copy.
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