paying for music on the Internet

Re: Canadian Copyright Board Rules on the Protection of Music

    on the Internet.

The long awaited decision of the Copyright Board of Canada, on whether music made available on the Internet is protected under Canadian copyright law, and entitles Canada's musical performing rights society, SOCAN (the equivalent to BMI and ASCAP in the U.S.), to collect royalties from Internet service providers (ISPs) will be released on Wednesday, October 27, 1999. An electronic version (Adobe Acrobat) of the decision will be available at http://copyrightlaws.com/ on Wednesday at 10:30 am EST.

The decision pertains only to the legal issues raised by SOCAN's Tariff 22 (Transmission of Musical Works to Subscribers via a Telecommunications Service), commonly referred to as the Internet music use tariff. Questions relating to the amount of royalties to be paid under the tariff will be determined in separate proceedings. The panel who heard the case consisted of Michel Hetu, Q.C., the former Vice-Chairman and CEO of the Board, along with two members, Mrs. Adrian Burns and Mr. Andrew E. Fenus.

This is an exciting landmark decision that will shape Canadian copyright law and will undoubtedly serve as a precedent around the world.

Lesley Ellen Harris
Copyright & New Media Lawyer

T:  202.255.2522
E:  lesley[_at_]copyrightlaws.com
W:  http://copyrightlaws.com/