On July 30, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada released its highly anticipated decision in York University v Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). The appeal considered whether the Copyright Act empowers collectives to enforce Copyright Board-approved tariffs against users who choose not to be bound by the tariff. It also considered whether York University’s fair dealing guidelines constituted fair dealing for the purposes of education. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that tariffs are not mandatory. Although the Court determined that it would be inappropriate to entertain York’s request for declaratory relief, it also declined to endorse the lower courts’ approach to fair dealing.
Jessica Zagar will discuss this landmark decision and what it means for copyright practitioners, collective administration and the education sector in Canada.
Jessica Zagar is a partner in the Litigation Group at Cassels and acted for several of the Interveners in York v Access Copyright. Jessica practices in the area of copyright, trademark, and commercial litigation. Jessica has acted as counsel before various administrative tribunals and at various levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, representing a broad spectrum of clients ranging from Canadian copyright collectives, media outlets, large and small publicly-traded companies and private corporations in a variety of industries.
