A long-simmering issue of dispute regarding copyright and the legal profession is coming close to a conclusion. The National Copyright Committee of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada has consistently argued that the permitted purposes in the Copyright Act for the use of legal resource materials (e.g. judicial and tribunal decision and reports, statutes, regulations, legal commentaries, extracts from treatises, and articles, including summaries, head notes, formatting and other editorialization thereof) should expressly include copying for the purposes of research, review, private study, and submission to a court, tribunal, government or other public authority.

In December 1997, the Law Society of Upper Canada commenced legal action against several law book publishers--Carswell’s, CCH, and Canada Law Book--to obtain a court declaration that the Society and its members do not infringe on the copyright of the law book publishers when photocopying legal materials for private study, research or use in court.

Prior to final arguments being presented in the case (January 1999), CanCopy advertised the availability of license agreements for law firms to address photocopying of legal materials. The value and scope of royalty fees will likely be affected by the current litigation, thus all lawyers and library administrators are advised to refer to the National Copyright Committee’s December 1998 Notice to the Profession when considering such a license agreement. The notice can be viewed online (www.flsc.ca/English/copyrightnoticedec98.htm) or requested through the Federation at 514.875.6350.

This article was published in the February 1999 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2006, all rights reserved.