In a decision handed down on July 30, 2021 (2021 SCC 32), the Supreme Court ruled on a dispute between a copyright collective and York University over royalties owed by the latter for the use of educational materials. One of the issues before the Court was whether a certified tariff (interim and then final) under the Copyright Act was binding on York University for the use of works administered by the collective society Access Copyright, in the absence of a licence entered into by the parties.
The Court determined that a collective society with a non-exclusive licence from the copyright owners can only force payment of royalties if the user is bound by a licence. Otherwise, recourses under the Copyright Act have to be taken directly by the copyright owner against the user. Therefore, Access Copyright cannot claim copyright infringement for failure to pay the tariffs. Only the copyright owners can.
The Supreme Court also considered whether the use by York University of the copyrighted educational material constituted fair dealing. The Supreme Court noted that the issue of fair dealing must be analyzed by considering all parties with an interest in the use, which in this case included students. Without rendering a decision, the Court noted that the issue of fair dealing had not been analyzed by the lower courts from the perspective of the students.
This decision gave Canada’s highest court the opportunity to address the rights and obligations of copyright collectives with respect to tariffs and to restate the framework for analyzing the exception of fair dealing. In this regard, the Supreme Court reiterated the importance of analyzing the impact on the end users of the work in question. Without denying the right of copyright owners to fair compensation for their work, this ruling confirms that education has an important weight in the analysis.
To learn more about this Supreme Court decision, read the full article (in French only) here.