Hager v. ECW Press Ltd. et al., (1998) 158 F.T.R. 44 (TD)

• Judge: Reed, J.
• Court: Federal Court (Canada)
• Case Date: December 21, 1998
• Jurisdiction: Canada (Federal)
• Citations: (1998), 158 F.T.R. 44 (TD)

Hager v. ECW Press Ltd. (1998), 158 F.T.R. 44 (TD)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [1999] F.T.R. TBEd. JA.015

Barbara Hager (plaintiff) v. ECW Press Ltd., Dallas Williams and General Distribution Services Limited (defendants)

(T-9-98)

Indexed As: Hager v. ECW Press Ltd. et al.

Federal Court of Canada

Trial Division

Reed, J.

December 21, 1998.

Summary:

The plaintiff sued a publisher, author and distributor (the defendants) for copyright infringement. She alleged that 16 major passages from a chapter of her book about Shania Twain were incorporated into the defendants' book.

The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Divi­sion, allowed the action and awarded the plaintiff damages of $12,405.

Copyright - Topic 1003

Works subject to copyright - Literary works (incl. compilations) - The plaintiff sued the defendants for copyright infringe­ment - She alleged that 16 major passages from a chapter of her book about Shania Twain were incorporated into the defend­ants' book - It contained direct quotes of Twain's words from the plaintiff's personal interviews - Other copying was not ver­batim but consisted of rearranged sen­tences, with additional material inter­spersed, which followed the same concepts, thought pat­terns and sometimes sentence structure - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Divi­sion, concluded that the defend­ant's use of the plaintiff's work constituted the copying of a substantial part of that work (directly and by colourable imitation) - However, the court found that a smaller paper-back version, which had removed the direct quotes and more than half of the colourable imitation sections, did not con­stitute a substantial taking - See paragraphs 15 to 20.

Copyright - Topic 1003

Works subject to copyright - Literary works (incl. compilations) - The plaintiff sued the defendants for copyright infringe­ment - She alleged that 16 major passages from a chapter of her book about Shania Twain were incorporated into the defen­dants' book - The defendants argued, inter alia, that the author of their book took mainly quotations of Twain's words given in an interview with the plaintiff and that quotations from interviews were not sub­ject to copyright - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, rejected the argu­ment - The plaintiff, as the interviewer, held the copyright in the quotations - See paragraphs 22 to 47 and 67 to 72.

Copyright - Topic 4586

Infringement of copyright - Remedies - Damages - The defendants infringed the plaintiff's copyright by copying major passages from a chapter of her book about Shania Twain and incorporating them into the defendants' book - In cases where damages were difficult to assess, an award could be made assuming that there should have been a reasonable fee paid for the use of the work - The plaintiff argued that the court should not use the "fee assessment" approach to damages where the author asserted that permission would never have been given for the use of the work - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, rejected the argument and awarded $9,000 as a reasonable fee - The court also awarded the plaintiff 10% of the defend­ants' profits - See paragraphs 73 to 79.

Copyright - Topic 4586

Infringement of copyright - Remedies - Damages - The defendants infringed the plaintiff's copyright by copying major passages from a chapter of her book about Shania Twain and incorporating them into the defendants' book - The defendants argued that revenues from non-Canadian sales should not be included in the ac­counting of profits because the Copyright Act did not have extraterritorial effect - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Divi­sion, rejected the argument - The books were published in Canada, sent from Canada for sale abroad and the revenues were paid to the defendants - See para­graphs 77 and 78.

Copyright - Topic 4642

Defences - Consent - The plaintiff sued the defendants for copyright infringement - She alleged that 16 major passages from a chapter of her book about Shania Twain were incorporated into the defendants' book - The defendants argued, inter alia, that it was the practice in the industry to condone such copying - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, held that it could not conclude from the evidence that an industry practice existed that lead to implied consent to the copying - Further, the court stated that it doubted that "indus­try practice" could sanction breaches of copyright - See paragraphs 62 to 66.

Copyright - Topic 4645

Defences - Fair dealing - The plaintiff sued the defendants for copyright infringement -She alleged that 16 major passages from a chapter of her book about Shania Twain were incorporated into the defendants' book - The defendants argued, inter alia, that the use of the plaintiff's work fell within the concepts "fair dealing for the purpose of research" and "fair dealing for the purpose of criticism" (Copyright Act, ss. 29 and 29.1) - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, reviewed the meaning of the above concepts and re-jected the argument - The use made of the quota­tions and paraphrases from the plain­tiff's work was not for the purpose of doing research nor for the purpose of criticizing either the text or the ideas in the plaintiff's book - See paragraphs 48 to 61.

Damage Awards - Topic 2423

Intellectual property - Copyright infringe­ment - [See both Copyright - Topic 4586 ].

Damages - Topic 4061

Interference with economic relations - Copyright - General - [See both Copy­right - Topic 4586 ].

Statutes - Topic 9227

Territorial effect of statutes - Federal statutes - Intellectual property legislation - [See second Copy­right - Topic 4586 ].

Words and Phrases

Research - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, discussed the meaning of the word "research" as used in the phrase "fair dealing for the purpose of research" contained in s. 29 of the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42 - See paragraphs 53 to 56.

Words and Phrases

Criticism - The Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, discussed the meaning of the word "criticism" as used in the phrase "fair dealing for the purpose of criticism" contained in s. 29.1 of the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42 - See paragraphs 57 to 60.

Cases Noticed:

U & R Tax Services Ltd. v. H & R Block Canada Inc. (1995), 97 F.T.R. 254; 62 C.P.R.(3d) 257 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 16].

British Columbia Jockey Club v. Standen (Winbar Publications) (1985), 8 C.P.R.(3d) 283 (B.C.C.A.), refd to. [para. 19].

Koch (C.P.) Ltd. v. Continental Steel Ltd. (1984), 82 C.P.R.(2d) 156 (B.C.S.C.), affd. (1985), 4 C.P.R.(3d) 395 (B.C.C.A.), refd to. [para. 19].

Tele-Direct (Publications) Inc. v. American Business Information Inc., [1998] 2 F.C. 22; 221 N.R. 113 (F.C.A.), leave to appeal denied (1998), 228 N.R. 200 (S.C.C.), consd. [para. 23].

Walter v. Lane, [1900] A.C. 539 (H.L.), appld. [para. 25].

Express Newspapers v. News U.K. Ltd., [1990] 3 All E.R. 376 (Ch. D.), refd to. [para. 25].

Gould Estate et al. v. Stoddard Publishing Co. et al. (1996), 14 O.T.C. 136; 30 O.R.(3d) 520 (Gen. Div.), affd. (1998), 114 O.A.C. 178; 80 C.P.R.(3d) 161 (C.A.), appld. [para. 25].

Sands & McDougall Proprietary Ltd. v. Robinson, [1917] 23 C.L.R. 49 (Aust. H.C.), refd to. [para. 26].

Rokeach v. Avco Embassy Pictures Corp. (1978), 197 U.S.P.Q. 155 (S.D.N.Y.), refd to. [para. 32].

Suid v. Newsweek Magazine (1980), 503 F.Supp. 146, refd to. [para. 32].

Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises (1985), 471 U.S. 539, refd to. [para. 32].

Craft v. Kobler (1987), 667 F.Supp. 120 (S.D.N.Y.), refd to. [para. 32].

Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. (1991), 111 S.Ct. 1282 (Un.S. Sup. Ct.), refd to. [para. 44].

Deeks v. Wells, [1931] 4 D.L.R. 533 (Ont. C.A.), affd. [1933] 1 D.L.R. 353 (P.C.), refd to. [para. 47].

Kartar Singh Giani v. Ladha Singh, [1934] I.L.R. 16 Lah 103, refd to. [para. 47].

Matthewson v. Stockdale (1806), 12 Ves. 270; 33 E.R. 103 (L.C.), refd to. [para. 47].

Rosemont Enterprises Inc. v. Random House Inc. (1966), 366 F.2d 303 (2nd Cir.), refd to. [para. 47].

Norman v. Columbia Broadcasting System Inc. (1971), 333 F.Supp. 788 (S.D.N.Y.), rerfd to. [para. 47].

Sillitoe v. McGraw-Hill Book Co. (U.K.), [1983] F.S.R. 545 (Ch. D.), refd to. [para. 54].

University of London Press Ltd. v. Univer­sity Tutorial Press Ltd., [1916] 2 Ch. 601 (Ch. D.), refd to. [para. 54].

De Garis v. Neville Jeffress Pidler Pty. Ltd. (1990), 37 F.C.R. 99 (F.C. Aust.), refd to. [para. 55].

Hubbard v. Vosper, [1972] 1 All E.R. 1023 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 59].

Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States (1975), 420 U.S. 376, dist. [para. 61].

Wright v. Warner Books Inc. (1991) 953 F.2d 731 (2nd Cir.), dist. [para. 61].

Salinger v. Random House Inc. (1987), 811 F.2d (2nd Cir.), dist. [para. 61].

Breen v. Hancock House Publishers Ltd. (1985), 6 C.I.P.R. 129 (F.C.T.D.), refd to. [para. 65].

Slumber-Magic Adjustable Bed Co. v. Sleep-King Adjustable Bed Co. (1984), 3 C.P.R.(3d) 81 (B.C.S.C.), refd to. [para. 65].

Statutes Noticed:

Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42, sect. 2 [para. 15, footnote 3]; sect. 3 [para. 15, foot­note 2]; sect. 29, sect. 29.1, sect. 29.2 [para. 49]; sect. 35 [para. 74].

Authors and Works Noticed:

Abrams, H.B., Originality and Creativity in Copyright Law (1992), 55 Law & Contemp. Prob. 3, pp. 7 [para. 42, foot­note 4]; 43 [para. 44, footnote 9].

Allsebrook, David, Originality is `No Sweat': Originality in the Canadian Law of Copyright (1992), 9 Can. Intell. Prop. Rev. 270, generally [para. 44, footnote 9].

Dunlap, K., Copyright Protection for Oral Works: Expansion of the Copyright Law into the Area of Conversations (1973), 20 Bulletin of Copyright Society of U.S.A. 285, generally [para. 37].

Fox, Harold G., The Canadian Law of Copyright and Industrial Designs (2nd Ed. 1967), pp. 42, 43 [para. 42, footnote 4].

Goldstein's Copyright (2nd Ed.), § 2.21 [para. 44, footnote 9].

Hayhurst, W.L., Copyright Subject-Matter, in Henderson, G.F., Copyright and Con­fidential Information Law of Canada (1994), p. 61 [para. 68, footnote 22].

Henderson, G.F., Copyright and Confiden­tial Information Law of Canada (1994), pp. 217 [para. 48, footnote 11]; 229 [para. 42, footnote 6].

Hirsch, A.S., Copyrighting Conversations: Applying the 1976 Copyright Act to Interviews (1982), 31 Am. Univ. L. Rev. 1071, pp. 1082, 1083 [para. 38].

Knopf, H.P., Limits on the Nature and Scope of Copyright, in Henderson, G.F., Copyright and Confidential Information Law of Canada (1994), pp. 240 [para. 44, footnote 9]; 241 [para. 42, footnote 6]; 258, 259 [para. 48, footnote 11].

Latman, The Copyright Law (6th Ed. 1986), p. 115, n. 3 [para. 39].

Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed. 1989) [paras. 53, 58].

Richard, Hugues G., Concept of Infringe­ment in the Copyright Act, in Henderson G.F., Copyright and Confidential Infor­mation Law of Canada (1994), pp. 201 [para. 48, footnote 11].

Ruhga, V.L., Ownership of Interviews: A Theory for Protection of Quotations (1988), 67 Nebr. L. Rev. 675, p. 684 [para. 37].

Samuelson, Pamela, The Originality Stan­dard for Literary Works Under U.S. Copyright Law (1994), 42 Am. J. Comp. L. 393, generally [para. 44, footnote 9].

Siebrasse, Norman, Copyright in Facts and Information: Feist Publications is Not, and Should Not Be, the Law in Canada (1984), 11 Can. Intell. Prop. Rev. 191, generally [para. 44, footnote 9].

Tamaro, Norman, The 1998 Annotated Copyright Act, pp. 164 to 174 [para. 16].

Vaver, Intellectual Property Law (1997), pp. 80, 81, 82, 83 [para. 16]; 101 [para. 48, footnote 11].

Counsel:

Donald R. Colborne, for the plaintiff;

Scott A. Turner and Daniel McLeod, for the defendants.

Solicitors of Record:

Donald R. Colborne, Victoria, British Columbia, for the plaintiff, Barbara Hager;

Blake, Cassels and Graydon, Vancouver, British Columbia, for the defendants.

This action was heard in Vancouver, Brit­ish Columbia, on September 8, 9, 10 and 24, 1998, before Reed, J., of the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, who delivered the following judgment on December 21, 1998, in Ottawa, Ontario.