SOCAN is the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. From a Globe and Mail article: "This case is terrifically significant," said Richard Owens, executive director of the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy at the University of Toronto. "From an Internet law point of view, it'll have effects around the world."
Here is the entire article from this morning's G & M:
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Friday, November 28


SOCAN requests download royalties
Blanket fee would apply to all Net music

   
DAVID AKIN
Globe and Mail Update


Canada's songwriters will ask the Supreme Court of Canada next week to force Internet service providers to pay them royalties for the millions of digital music files downloaded each year by Canadians.

The case has broad ramifications for the Internet industry in Canada, legal experts say.

"This is the big case for the Internet. This will set the position on how we are going to treat Internet service providers, whether they are going to be seen as . . . responsible in some way for content that goes through their services," said Mark Perry, a professor of law and computer science at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont.

If successful, the legal pleadings of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) could open the door to other rights holders -- groups as diverse as software publishers and Hollywood movie distributors -- who could use SOCAN's precedent to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to collect royalties on their behalf.

Although those groups are being prompted to seek new sources of revenue because of what they say are illegal downloads of copyrighted content, SOCAN is asking ISPs to pay a blanket annual royalty on all kinds of music transmitted -- whether legally or illegally downloaded.

"This is a huge case for Canada and the Internet and whether we're part of the global Internet community or on the outside looking in," said Jay Thomson, president of the Ottawa-based Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP). "Consumers could very well see an increase in their Internet costs and they could see a slowdown in the transmission speed of their Internet communications."

CAIP is one of the parties to the case. Its main opponent, SOCAN, and many other parties to the case declined to comment before the court hears the matter.

Legal experts say the Supreme Court has been looking for a case such as this because they will be able to clarify several key issues involving Internet use in Canada by ruling on a narrow technical question involving some technology ISPs use to speed up performance of their networks.

For example, legal experts say the justices of the Supreme Court will be aware that what they say will apply to the broader issue of the responsibility ISPs have for any content that passes through their systems. That could affect the liability ISPs have for objectionable content, such as pornography.

"We've always taken the position that we are the conduits of other people's content. We simply provide the network over which other people communicate with each other," Mr. Thomson said.

The Supreme Court will also be asked to adjudicate on a jurisdictional issue, specifically whether Canadian law ought to apply to organizations that operate Web servers physically located outside the country but that deliver content to Canadians.

"This case is terrifically significant," said Richard Owens, executive director of the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy at the University of Toronto. "From an Internet law point of view, it'll have effects around the world."

David Akin is national business and technology correspondent for CTV News and a contributing writer to The Globe and Mail.