33MILLIONDOLLARCOPYRIGHTSUITAGAINSTSOUTHAMINC.THEWORLDWIDE
WEBANDCOPYRIGHTCONSIDERATIONSINTHECOURSEOFEMPLOYMENT
by
HuguesG.Richard*
LEGERROBICRICHARD,Lawyers
ROBIC,Patent&TrademarkAgents
CentreCDPCapital
1001Square-Victoria-BlocE–8
thFloor
Montreal,Quebec,CanadaH2Z2B7
Tel.:(514)9876242-Fax:(514)8457874
www.robic.ca-info@robic.com
INTRODUCTION
InapendingcasebeforetheSuperiorCourtofQuebec,theElectronic-Rights
DefenceCommittee(E.R.D.C.)hasinstituteda33milliondollarclassactionsuit
onbehalfoffreelancewritersagainstSouthamandCEDRON-SNIInc.,(hereafter
the”Southamcase”).
Thefreelancewritersareclaiming,inaccordancewithanallegedoral
agreement,thatSouthamhastherighttoreproducetheirarticlesonlyonetime
andsolelyforprintpublicationinTheGazette,anewspaperownedbySoutham.
Theplaintiffsfurtherclaimthatbymakingtheirworkaccessibleonaworld-wide
basisbyelectronicmeansandwithneithertheirconsentnorcompensation,the
defendantsarecausingthemfuturelossesbydiminishingthevalueoftheir
copyright.TheyclaimthattheneteffectofSoutham’selectronicactivitiesisto
deprivethemofopportunitiestoassignandlicensetheuseoftheirworksby
“recycling”,theindustrytermusedtodesignatetheupdatingofstoriessothat
theymayberepublishedatasubsequentdateandindifferentmarkets.
Copyrightgenerallyresideswiththeauthoroftheworkubsection.13(1)ofthe
CopyrightAct
1(R.S.C.1985,c.C-42).Iftheauthorisanindependentcontractor,
suchasafreelancewriter,thegeneralruleappliesi.e.copyrightresideswiththe
authorsubsection13(1).Copyrightcanbeassignedorlicencedtothepublisher.