BROADCASTERS OPPOSED IN CANADIAN COPYRIGHT HEARINGS
NAB and its Canadian counterpart CAB should be denied intervenor status at upcoming Canadian Copyright Board hearings, Montreal-based Webcaster JumpTV.com and Canadian Cable TV Assn. (CCTA) said in separate briefs to Canadian Copyright Board. NAB had filed brief in April (CD April 3 p3) asking for intervenor status at Copyright Board hearings expected later this year on how Internet retransmission should be dealt with under Canadian copyright laws. Board is expected to rule within next few weeks on broadcasters’ petitions to participate in hearings, sources said.
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JumpTV.com “rejects any intervener status for the NAB or CAB in the upcoming Copyright Board hearings on the application of retransmission tariffs to alternative technologies,” JumpTV.com CEO Farrel Miller said. JumpTV.com attorney Sunny Handa said he believed “the interests of both the NAB and CAB are adequately represented by their collective representatives” and issues raised by JumpTV.com “do not go beyond traditional retransmission matters. In fact, the opposite is true. JumpTV Canada is applying for a tariff on the basis that it falls within the definition provided in the Copyright Act and that the only matter to consider is how to tailor a tariff model to suit JumpTV Canada’s offering.”
NAB members’ rights also can be “adequately dealt with under U.S. law,” JumpTV.com said in its objection to NAB intervention. That was shown in the iCraveTV case, Webcaster said in its brief: “A claim that Canada is in violation of the Berne Convention should properly be brought to the attention of the Canadian government… Any attempt by the NAB to engage itself in the current proceeding will create a lot of unnecessary confusion and produce prejudicial rhetoric.”
JumpTV.com CEO Miller said only issue should be how much his company should pay copyright holders in retransmission tariff on new and established retransmission technologies such as Internet or satellite direct-to-home. “We can’t imagine a situation where any governmental authority would suggest retransmission over one technology is permissible and the same retransmission over another technology is not permissible,” he said.
CCTA spokesman agreed that “the fact that JumpTV is using the Internet shouldn’t be a factor. It’s a technology-neutral world in terms of the copyright act.” He also agreed that broadcasters’ interests were represented by copyright collectives and “there’s no reason to give them a second kick at the can, so to speak, because the collectives are there on their behalf.” In its brief, CCTA also stressed that purpose of hearings would be to determine whether retransmitting TV signals in Canada was permitted under country’s Copyright Act, and if “the NAB wants to raise issues relating to the retransmission of TV signals in the U.S., these issues are exclusively the providence of American copyright legislation beyond the jurisdiction of the Copyright Board.” CCTA said “Canada’s Copyright Act is in full compliance of all obligations imposed on Canada by the Berne Convention.” Finally, if Canada’s international obligations “are a legitimate issue for the Board to consider in the context of the JumpTV application, the Board does not require the participation of the NAB to address the matter” since NAB’s interests already were represented by collectives.
CAB lawyer David Kent of McMillan Binch argued JumpTV.com “is not a retransmitter within the meaning of the copyright act and it’s not entitled to unilaterally take and transmit Canadian TV signals.”
Over weekend, Miller announced opening of JumpTV.com, “the Internet’s premiere Web site for live TV channels from broadcasters around the world. For those of you lucky enough to be amongst our earliest users, we hope you enjoy today’s live coverage of the return of the Endeavor space shuttle on JumpTV’s NASA channel,” Miller told us Tues.