Unusable Copies And Copyright Infringement

Copyright law offers up a panoply of interesting questions, which often verge on the philosophical. One such question is: if one tries to make a copy of something, but the copy is defective and useless, has one made a copy at all? According to a recent decision of Master Hanebury, of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, the answer could be yes.

The decision, in Geophysical Service Inc v Antrim Energy Inc, 2015 ABQB 482, involved a claim of copyright infringement of geophysical data that had been obtained from a regulatory board. The plaintiff, GSI, is in the business of producing and licensing seismic data. The defendant, Antrim, had previously investigated the possibility of licensing data from GSI, but ultimately did not do so, apparently because of cost concerns.

Subsequently, Antrim requested and received access to certain information, including seismic data, held by the Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOP). In particular, it received paper photocopies of two lines of seismic...