Re:Sound Proposed Tariff for Use of Soundtracks in Theatres & TV Nixed (Again)

Presumably, very few copyright lawyers will be surprised to learn that the Federal Court of Appeal has just decisively (three days after the hearing) dismissed the application for judicial review brought by the collective Re:Sound (formerly NRCC) in its attempt to impose tariffs when a published sound recording is part of the soundtrack that accompanies a motion picture that is performed in public (i.e. movie theatres) or a television program that is communicated to the public by telecommunication (i.e. on TV).

Re:Sound could not overcome the language of the Copyright Act which seems quite clearly intended to prevent this very result.

The definition of "sound recording" is as follows:

“sound recording” means a recording, fixed inany material form, consisting of sounds, whetheror not of a performance of a work, but excludes any soundtrack of a cinematographicwork where it accompanies the cinematographic work;
(emaphasis added)

The Copyright Board had previously ruled that there was no basis under the Copyright Act to impose these tariffs.

Here's the Court's decision.  

Here's the Board's decision.


HK