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The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law

The Context of the Supreme Court’s Copyright Cases

In the summer of 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada created history by simultaneously releasing five copyright judgments: Entertainment Software Association v Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada [ESA],[1] Rogers Communications Inc. v Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada [Rogers],[2] Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada […]

Acknowledging Copyright’s Illegitimate Offspring: User-Generated Content and Canadian Copyright Law

Bill C-11[1] provides for a new exception to infringement for user-generated content (UGC), along with new grounds for fair dealing. These provisions, combined with a strong and clear message  from the Supreme Court of Canada’s pentalogy of copyright cases  regarding users’ rights and the copyright balance, signal a new paradigm  for copyright law in Canada—one […]

Technological Neutrality: (Pre)Serving the Purposes of Copyright Law

In the realm of law, neutrality is widely hailed as a fundamental principle of fairness, justice and equity; it is also, however, widely criticized as a myth that too often obscures the inevitable reality of perspective, interest or agenda. It should come as little surprise, then, that the principle of technological neutrality, recently employed by […]

The Arithmetic of Fair Dealing at the Supreme Court of Canada

In the 2012 Supreme Court of Canada copyright cases, the Court found an opportunity to redefine the law of fair dealing in Canada. While the Court acknowledged that fair dealing is a question of fact, and thereby properly adjudicated by triers of fact like the Copyright Board of Canada, the Court stepped in to revisit […]