On December 23, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered an important decision on copyright infringement in Cinar Corp. v. Robinson. The Court affirmed the trial judge’s finding that Cinar infringed Claude Robinson’s intellectual property and allowed a considerable increase in the monetary relief the Quebec Court of Appeal awarded Robinson.
The unanimous judgment, written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, on behalf of the seven judges who presided over the case:
… Continue reading “Protection against copyright infringement strengthened by Robinson case but at what cost”I conclude that the copyright in [Robinson Curiosité] was infringed. The trial judge committed no reviewable errors in finding that [Robinson] Sucroë reproduced a substantial part of [Robinson Curiosité]. The Cinar appellants incorrectly argue for an approach that dissects Robinson’s work into its constituent parts. Rather, a qualitative and holistic approach must be adopted. In order to determine whether a substantial part of Robinson’s work was copied, the features that were copied by the Cinar appellants must be
