Rogers Communications v. SOCAN - Supreme Court casts doubt on withholding tax exemption for royalties in respect of Internet streams

The Supreme Court of Canada has found that, unlike media downloads, media streams infringe on a copyright-holder's exclusive right under s. 3(1)(f) of the Copyright Act to communicate a work to the public by telecommunication.

In light of ESA, the Court's decision means that media streams do not entail the "production or reproduction" of a work (even though the streaming entails the making of temporary copies of the works).  This suggests that copyright royalties paid in respect of media streams are not exempt under s. 212(1)(d)(vi) from Part XIII tax - whereas most downloads of copyright-protected works entail the "production or reproduction" of those works and generally are exempt under s. 212(1)(d)(vi).

Scott Armstrong.  Summary of Rogers Communications v. SOCAN, 2012 SCC 35 under s. 212(1)(d)(vi).