This is quite interesting. The organisation that represents songwriters and music publishers in Canada is trying to stop a major Toronto venue from staging concerts while an ongoing dispute over royalty fees awaits a court hearing.
Canadian copyright laws say that promoters of concerts must pay set tariffs, up to 3% of gross ticket sales, to the Society Of Composers, Authors And Music Publishers, or SOCAN, which the society then distributes to its members, compensating them for the public performance of their work.
In a lawsuit launched in 2004, SOCAN claim that the owners of Toronto's Air Canada Centre, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd, have refused to pay royalty fees on 29 concerts dating back to 1999. That litigation is yet to go to court, and may not do so for another year. In the interim, according to the Toronto Star, SOCAN is seeking a court injunction to stop the staging of concerts at the arena.
MLSE reportedly argue that they are just a venue, not promoters, and that they are therefore not liable to pay the fee on the disputed concerts. Its general counsel, Robin Brudner, told the Toronto Star that when the company has paid the tariff in the past the money came out of the revenues of concert promoters hiring the venue, they themselves, Brudner argues, have never been liable to pay monies out of the rents payment they receive.
It is not clear how quickly the Canadian courts will hear SOCAN's injunction application, or what their chances are of stopping concerts at the ACC until their long running dispute is resolved.