SOCAN sued for $15 million refund of ringtones payments
Yesterday, Rogers, Telus, Bell and Quebecor commenced an action against the copyright collective SOCAN. In the Federal Court suit Canada’s leading carriers are claiming a refund of all royalties paid to SOCAN under its Tariff 24 (Ringtone) tariffs since November, 2006.
SOCAN’s Ringtone tariffs claimed royalties from mobile service providers which sold ringtones (short excerpts of music works used to indicate incoming calls or text messages on mobile devices) and transmitted them to customers. SOCAN claimed those downloads were communications to the public by telecommunication under Section 3(1)(f) of the Copyright Act, a right administered by SOCAN.…
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