Litigation
in cra-briefings33 · January 20, 2006
CREATOR CLASS ACTIONS
On December 6 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the appeal in the Heather Robertson class action. A decision in this case should be handed down in six to nine months.
In the interim, on December 11th the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in a class action brought against National Geographic by freelance journalists and photographers. The Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeal and indicated that it is not a violation of copyright law for National Geographic to convert is magazines (compilations) into CD-Rom format. The Court determined that the magazine was a compilation and the strict conversion, with page views and most content remaining the same, created an “electronic replica” and was a permissible “revision” under the Copyright Act. Notably, National Geographic was also permitted to add content that created better functionality. For more information on this case please see today.reuters.co.uk/news
SETTLEMENT OF THE KAZAA CASE REMAINS OUT OF REACH
In the decision in the Australian Recording Industry Association against KAZAA, Justice Wilcox ordered that Sharman Networks ban a list of 3000 search terms over the p2p network operated as Kazaa. In responding to this order, new Kazaa users are prevented from downloading its software without imbedded search restrictions that will block the download of certain kinds of copyright protected material. However, previous Kazaa users can continue searching as they have before.
The Recording Industry Association was not satisfied with this response and is bringing contempt proceedings against Sharman. In its suit, the RIA is seeking jail time for the proprietors and corporate executive. Jail time for contempt of court related to copyright infringement has never been used before as a penalty in Australia. For more information on this case see www.aria.com.au.