Supreme Court ruling scraps royalty for music downloads
The Supreme Court today scrapped a royalty paid to songwriters and music publishers for downloading music, but maintained the tariff for streaming music on the internet.
The court partly overturned a lower court decision that had allowed the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers (SOCAN) to collect tariffs for both activities for its members. Copyright royalties are approved by the Copyright Board of Canada, and if those who have to pay them disagree, they can ask for a judicial review and fight them at the Federal Court of Appeal.
The court's decision on downloading, among five copyright-related cases that were settled today, means telecommunications companies that offer music services won't have to pay as much to copyright collection agencies.
SOCAN will see this as a blow to its members. In an interview Wednesday, SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste said these artists depend on royalties to make a living.
Artists and publishers are entitled to various rights and royalties under copyright legislation. Today's decision does not affect the "reproduction right" that they can collect a fee for, only the one for downloading. Until now, downloading fell under the "communication to the public" right. The Supreme Court disagreed with interpretations by the Copyright Board and Federal Court and ruled that transmitting a single copy of a work to a single individual is not a communication to the public within the Copyright Act.
However, the top court said that streaming music over the internet is not a private transaction and should be subject to the tarrif currently in place.
The court also overturned another lower court decision that allowed SOCAN to collect a tariff when video games are downloaded over the internet.
In both cases the downloading tariffs had been approved by the Copyright Board but were appealed by video game publishers and distributors – represented by Entertainment Software Association (ESA) – and major Canadian telecommunications companies including Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telus Communications and Shaw Cablesystems.
The tariffs were upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal, which is why the cases ended up at the Supreme Court.
ESA had argued that downloading a game is no different than buying it at a store and that SOCAN therefore isn't entitled to a royalty for it. Music in a video game isn't played while the game is being transmitted to someone's computer, and the musical work isn't communicated in any way to the public, the ESA argued.
A majority of the court sided with ESA, but four justices dissented, saying the creators should be entitled to both the communication and reproduction-rights royalties.
Supreme Court ruling scraps royalty for music downloads - Politics - CBC News
The Supreme Court today scrapped a royalty paid to songwriters and music publishers for downloading music, but maintained the tariff for streaming music on the internet.
The court partly overturned a lower court decision that had allowed the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers (SOCAN) to collect tariffs for both activities for its members. Copyright royalties are approved by the Copyright Board of Canada, and if those who have to pay them disagree, they can ask for a judicial review and fight them at the Federal Court of Appeal.
The court's decision on downloading, among five copyright-related cases that were settled today, means telecommunications companies that offer music services won't have to pay as much to copyright collection agencies.
SOCAN will see this as a blow to its members. In an interview Wednesday, SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste said these artists depend on royalties to make a living.
Artists and publishers are entitled to various rights and royalties under copyright legislation. Today's decision does not affect the "reproduction right" that they can collect a fee for, only the one for downloading. Until now, downloading fell under the "communication to the public" right. The Supreme Court disagreed with interpretations by the Copyright Board and Federal Court and ruled that transmitting a single copy of a work to a single individual is not a communication to the public within the Copyright Act.
However, the top court said that streaming music over the internet is not a private transaction and should be subject to the tarrif currently in place.
The court also overturned another lower court decision that allowed SOCAN to collect a tariff when video games are downloaded over the internet.
In both cases the downloading tariffs had been approved by the Copyright Board but were appealed by video game publishers and distributors – represented by Entertainment Software Association (ESA) – and major Canadian telecommunications companies including Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telus Communications and Shaw Cablesystems.
The tariffs were upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal, which is why the cases ended up at the Supreme Court.
ESA had argued that downloading a game is no different than buying it at a store and that SOCAN therefore isn't entitled to a royalty for it. Music in a video game isn't played while the game is being transmitted to someone's computer, and the musical work isn't communicated in any way to the public, the ESA argued.
A majority of the court sided with ESA, but four justices dissented, saying the creators should be entitled to both the communication and reproduction-rights royalties.
Supreme Court ruling scraps royalty for music downloads - Politics - CBC News