Supreme Court to Hear Five (5) Copyright Cases in Two Days - December 6 and 7, 2011

The Supreme Court of Canada has, to the surprise of many, granted leave in the Re:Sound "Soundtracks" case. It will be heard with two cases involving fair dealing and two involving the communication right. It appears that all these cases will be heard in two days, namely December 6 and 7, 2011.

The only obvious things that all these five (5) cases have in common are these aspects:

• They all involve copyright;
• They all involve the "sempiternal question of the applicable standard of review"; and,
• They all come from the Copyright Board.

Until the last decade, the SCC has heard about one copyright case per decade.From 2002 to 2007, it heard several major copyright cases, namely Théberge, SOCAN v. CAIP,  CCH v., LSUC, Robertson v. Thomson, and Euro Excellence v. Kraft.The Bell ExpressVu decision and Desputeux also involved copyright.

It is now about to hear five (5) cases in two days, unless the schedule is somehow adjusted.

Here is the order today from the Supreme Court of Canada:

GRANTED WITH COSTS IN THE CAUSE / ACCORDÉE AVEC DÉPENS SUIVANT L’ISSUE DE LA CAUSE

Re: Sound v. Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada et al. (F.C.) (Civil) (By Leave) (34210)

(The application for leave to appeal is granted with costs in the cause.  This appeal is to be heard with Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Bell Canada, et al. (33800); Province of Alberta as represented by the Minister of Education, et al. v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency Operating as “Access Copyright”(33888); Entertainment Software Association, et al. v. Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (33921) and Rogers Communications Inc., et al. v. Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (33922).  The schedule for serving and filing the material and any application for leave to intervene shall be set by the Registrar. /

La demande d’autorisation d’appel est accordée avec dépens suivant l’issue de la cause.  Cet appel sera entendu avec Société canadienne des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique c. Bell Canada, et autres (33800); Province d’Alberta, représentée par le ministre de l’Éducation, et autres c. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency exerçant ses activités sous l’appellation de « Access Copyright » (33888); Association du logiciel de divertissement, et autres c. Société canadienne des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (33921) et Rogers Communications Inc., et autres c. Société canadienne des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (33922). L’échéancier pour la signification et le dépôt des documents et pour toute requête en intervention sera fixé par le registraire.)

Coram: McLachlin / Deschamps / Charron