In the summer of 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada issued rulings on
five copyright cases in a single day. The cases represent a seismic
shift in Canadian copyright law, with the Court providing an unequivocal
affirmation that copyright exceptions such as fair dealing should be
treated as users' rights, while emphasizing the need for a technology
neutral approach to copyright law. The Court's decisions, which were
quickly dubbed the "copyright pentalogy," included no fees for song
previews on services such as iTunes, no additional payment for music
included in downloaded video games, and that copying materials for
instructional purposes may qualify as fair dealing. The Canadian
copyright community soon looked beyond the cases and their litigants and
began to debate the larger implications of the decisions. Several issues
quickly emerged. This book represents an effort by some of Canada's
leading copyright scholars to begin the process of examining the
long-term implications of the copyright pentalogy. The diversity of
contributors ensures an equally diverse view on these five cases,
contributions are grouped into five parts. Part 1 features three
chapters on the standard of review in the courts. Part 2 examines the
fair dealing implications of the copyright pentalogy, with five chapters
on the evolution of fair dealing and its likely interpretation in the
years ahead. Part 3 contains two chapters on technological neutrality,
which the Court established as a foundational principle of copyright
law. The scope of copyright is assessed in Part 4 with two chapters that
canvas the exclusive rights under the copyright and the establishment of
new "right" associated with user-generated content. Part 5 features two
chapters on copyright collective management and its future in the
aftermath of the Court's decisions. This volume represents the first
comprehensive scholarly analysis of the five rulings. Edited by
Professor Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair in Internet and
E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, the volume includes
contributions from experts across Canada. This indispensable volume
identifies the key aspects of the Court's decisions and considers the
implications for the future of copyright law in Canada.
