TOPIC
As the Internet continues to evolve, it is becoming more of an interactive gateway through which people and businesses communicate and access a variety of information in new and inventive manners. Plain text web pages have given way to richer dynamic offerings that include audio and visual presentations available for viewing and/or downloading by users, and person to person (“P2P”) file sharing of music, television shows and movies. Publishing, sharing or presenting multimedia over the Internet can be a complex venture raising a number of distinct copyright issues, and may require obtaining consent, or clearances, from multiple copyright holders. Often, clearances need to be obtained from a ‘collective society, an organisation that administers the rights of several copyright owners, granting permission to use their works and setting the conditions for that use. Collective administration is widespread in Canada, particularly for music performance rights.
Our speaker, Mr. Claude Brunet, will provide an overview of copyright collectives in Canada and the different copyrights that can subsist in multimedia works available through or on the Internet. Mr. Brunet will also discuss digital rights management, and the current battle before the Supreme Court on SOCAN Tariff 22 and what that may mean to the definition of “communication to the public” for the purposes of copyright clearances. Finally, Mr. Brunet will share with the group his recent experiences with respect to the CPCC Tariff, and how that tariff may impact the current heated debate on P2P file sharing over the Internet.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Claude Brunet, Senior Partner and Trade-mark Agent, Ogilvy Renault
CLAUDE BRUNET is a Senior Partner and Trade-mark Agent with the law firm of Ogilvy Renault. Mr. Brunet has particular experience in intellectual property law and communications, especially as regards copyright, telecommunications (radio and television broadcasting, cable television and computers), the entertainment and publishing industry (music, publishing, television and film) and applications to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Mr. Brunet started his career as a legal adviser to the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC, now SOCAN). In 1976, he was Registrar of Copyrights and international affairs adviser to the House of Commons Sub-Committee on Copyright. He has been a member of several Canadian delegations to UNESCO and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Mr. Brunet is currently a member of the International Literary and Artistic Association (ALAI), the International Copyright Society (INTERGU) and the editorial committee of Les cahiers de la propriete intellectuelle. In 1994 and 1995 he chaired the copyright subcommittee responsible for making recommendations to the committee formed by the federal government to advise it on the information superhighway.