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Human expression.
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that shape what we create and what we protect.
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Art is what
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Creativity is
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Updated Oct 10, 2026
Humanities editorial feature
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MusicOct 9, 2026

We Can't Protect the Past by Restricting the Future

A personal guest perspective on Noel Gallagher, the freedom to reinterpret music and why what we love must be allowed to grow.
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Humanities editorial

ArtOct 10, 2026

The Work Isn't Finished When It Leaves the Studio

Making art is intensely personal, but once a work enters a gallery, a collection or a digital feed, its story becomes a conversation about authorship, access and interpretation.
Humanities editorial

MusicOct 10, 2026

A Song Can Have More Than One Life

Covers, remixes and changing audiences reveal the difference between guarding a recording and protecting the creative freedom that makes music worth hearing.
Humanities editorial

LiteratureOct 10, 2026

Who Gets to Keep a Story Alive?

Writing moves between authors, publishers, libraries, students and readers. The challenge is supporting creation without making knowledge impossible to share.

Courts and regulators

Creative rights across Canada

Primary sources

Canadian decisions on copyright, broadcasting, licensing and cultural expression, with legal reasoning distinguished from preliminary alerts.

CADecision: Jul 15, 2022

Supreme Court rejects a second royalty for streaming music

Canada's Supreme Court rejected an additional making available royalty for the same online stream, distinguishing communication from downloading and reproduction.
Supreme Court of Canada · 2022 SCC 30

CADecision: Jul 30, 2021

A copyright tariff isn't a compulsory licence, Supreme Court rules

The Supreme Court distinguished voluntary collective licences from infringement proceedings, leaving York University's fair dealing questions unresolved.
Supreme Court of Canada · 2021 SCC 32

CADecision: Jul 15, 2022

New music streaming royalties decision: Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Entertainment Software Association

SOCAN's appeal was dismissed. The Copyright Board's separate making available royalty theory did not stand. The Court concluded that streaming an online work requires one communication royalty, not an additional royalty simply for making it available.
Supreme Court of Canada · 2022 SCC 30

CADecision: Jul 30, 2021

New copyright licensing decision: York University v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright)

Both appeals were dismissed. The copyright tariff could not be enforced against York as a compulsory licence. The Court made no final determination about whether particular educational copying was fair dealing or infringement.
Supreme Court of Canada · 2021 SCC 32

CADecision: Jul 12, 2012

New digital music rights decision: Entertainment Software Association v. Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada

A Canadian Supreme Court of Canada decision, 2012 SCC 34. Its identity and source are verified; Binder Humanities has not yet reviewed the reasons.
Supreme Court of Canada · 2012 SCC 34 · Initial case report · reasons under review

CADecision: Nov 26, 2015

New music reproduction licensing decision: Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. SODRAC 2003 Inc.

A Canadian Supreme Court of Canada decision, 2015 SCC 57. Its identity and source are verified; Binder Humanities has not yet reviewed the reasons.
Supreme Court of Canada · 2015 SCC 57 · Initial case report · reasons under review

Interpretation and perspective

Humanities analysis

Browse topics

How our artistic, cultural and commercial choices shape what we create and what happens next.

ArtOct 10, 2026

The Work Isn't Finished When It Leaves the Studio

Making art is intensely personal, but once a work enters a gallery, a collection or a digital feed, its story becomes a conversation about authorship, access and interpretation.

MusicOct 10, 2026

A Song Can Have More Than One Life

Covers, remixes and changing audiences reveal the difference between guarding a recording and protecting the creative freedom that makes music worth hearing.

LiteratureOct 10, 2026

Who Gets to Keep a Story Alive?

Writing moves between authors, publishers, libraries, students and readers. The challenge is supporting creation without making knowledge impossible to share.

FilmOct 10, 2026

Who Owns the World of a Film?

A film is built collaboratively, yet its distinctive creative expression needs protection. Canada's film institutions and copyright disputes reveal why both realities matter.

DesignOct 10, 2026

Good Design Can Be Protected Without Being Frozen

The most useful objects often become almost invisible. Behind their apparent simplicity are creative choices, commercial risks and a legal framework worth understanding.

PhilosophyOct 10, 2026

What Does It Mean to Create When Machines Can Generate?

The arrival of generative AI has reopened an older philosophical question: what makes human creativity valuable, and which responsibilities belong to the people using technology?

HistoryOct 10, 2026

Preserving History Isn't the Same as Owning It

Museums and archives have responsibilities to protect collections, but stewardship also requires listening to the communities whose histories those objects represent.

CultureOct 10, 2026

Who Gets to Decide What Counts as Canadian Culture?

Canadian culture can't be reduced to a quota, a genre or one national narrative. Policy can support discovery, but artists and audiences must still have room to define it.

Official developments

From courts and public institutions

Case reports

Verified source identities only. A preliminary report isn't presented as a substantive legal analysis.

MusicOct 9, 2026

New music streaming royalties decision: Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Entertainment Software Association

SOCAN's appeal was dismissed. The Copyright Board's separate making available royalty theory did not stand. The Court concluded that streaming an online work requires one communication royalty, not an additional royalty simply for making it available.
Verified official development

LiteratureOct 9, 2026

New copyright licensing decision: York University v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright)

Both appeals were dismissed. The copyright tariff could not be enforced against York as a compulsory licence. The Court made no final determination about whether particular educational copying was fair dealing or infringement.
Verified official development

MusicOct 9, 2026

New digital music rights decision: Entertainment Software Association v. Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada

A Canadian Supreme Court of Canada decision, 2012 SCC 34. Its identity and source are verified; Binder Humanities has not yet reviewed the reasons.
Source verified · full reasons still under review

MusicOct 9, 2026

New music reproduction licensing decision: Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. SODRAC 2003 Inc.

A Canadian Supreme Court of Canada decision, 2015 SCC 57. Its identity and source are verified; Binder Humanities has not yet reviewed the reasons.
Source verified · full reasons still under review

FilmOct 9, 2026

New copyright and creative works decision: Cinar Corporation v. Robinson

A Canadian Supreme Court of Canada decision, 2013 SCC 73. Its identity and source are verified; Binder Humanities has not yet reviewed the reasons.
Source verified · full reasons still under review
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