Recounting CCH Canadian Ltd.: Law’s Living Memory

Copyright Law Conference 2025 Co-Hosted by LTEC Lab

Authored By: Daina Elias, Windsor Law Student JD ‘26 & LTEC Lab Research Assistant

On September 19-20, 2025, Professor Pascale Chapdelaine, Director of Windsor Law LTEC Lab and Chair in Law, Intellectual Property, and the Digital Marketplace, co-hosted  an international conference on The Legacy of CCH Canadian Ltd v Law Society of Upper Canada, 2004 SCC 13 (“CCH”) and the Future of Copyright Law. The other co-organizers were Professor Carys Craig (IP Osgoode’s Director and Academic Director of the Professional LLM in IP at Osgoode Hall Law School); Professor Myra Tawfik (Distinguished University Professor Emerita at Windsor Law), and Professor Ariel Katz (Associate Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law).

Taking place at the Osgoode Professional Development Centre, Downtown Toronto, the co-organizers brought to life a one-of-a-kind symposium commemorating the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2004 landmark decision. Spanning two thought-provoking days, the special event stood as both remembrance and reckoning, featuring eight panels and over 35 distinguished speakers who are recognized leaders in the field with national and global scholarly insight. As attendees reflected on the complexities of copyright law under the guidance of these leading minds, the inspiring energy of the room was undoubtably felt.

Such was the case during the guided tours of the historic Great Library at Osgoode Hall hosted on Day 1 of the conference. While the Great Library is characterized by serving the legal information needs of licensees and other legal researchers, it is also renowned for its photocopying service having kindled the CCH litigation 32 years ago. The decision has reshaped copyright law in Canada and worldwide by balancing the exclusive rights of copyright holders with the rights of users and broader societal interests. With the rise of generative AI and the major disruptions it has yielded in the field of IP, the already polarized debate was bound to spark energetic and forward-thinking dialogue.

For most, if not all participants, the anticipated event was not their first rodeo in the IP symposia space, but in light of its timing and all-encompassing content, was surely one to remember. Distinguished Professor Emerita Myra Tawfik reflected, “The conference was not only a celebration of the anniversary of one of the most transformational copyright decisions in Canada, it also provided a perfect opportunity for copyright scholars to gather from near and far to share their reflections on the past, present, and future of copyright.”

The conference began by peeling back the layers of the CCH litigation itself from the vantage point of those directly involved. A tension emerged in defending a library accused of copying too freely, a library whose very purpose was, paradoxically, to make the law accessible. What began as a technical dispute over photocopies soon revealed a deeper conflict about authorship, access, and authorization. The Law Society of Upper Canada’s (“LSO”) “Access to Law” policy, once merely administrative, thereby became a statement of principle in the Supreme Court’s view. Likewise, the librarians’ conviction that they were simply doing their job was recast as an act of public trust. Through their testimony, the case discarded its procedural form and became an argument over whether knowledge could be owned and, correspondingly, who bore the moral duty of its preservation.

As the panels progressed, the conversation expanded from copyright law’s history to its living terrain. Speakers depicted how CCH transformed fair dealing from a narrow exception into an interpretive lens; one that protects the creative act of reading as much as the creative act of writing. They spoke of information’s migration from shelves to screens, from the material to the digital ether, and of how each new technology reopens the question “Who may know, and at what cost?” History offered its reminders; namely, in societies where copyright loosened its grip, innovation often flourished. Yet, even now, barriers persist. As many observed, the promise of access remains elusive for those with print or visual disabilities, despite the aspirations of the Marrakesh Treaty.

Librarians and educators, the quiet custodians of that promise, reflected on how their work has changed. Where they once handled paper and bindings, they now navigate licenses and digital contracts, which constitute new instruments of access, but also of limitation. The permanence of ownership has given way to the precarity of permission. Still, the ethos affirmed in CCH endures. Copyright’s legitimacy depends on its service to learning, and the public’s right to access knowledge cannot be hijacked in the name of control.

Beyond Canada, comparative perspectives drew the discussion outward. Scholars traced how CCH’s reasoning resonates in other jurisdictions, from South Africa’s constitutional experiments to the European Union’s intricate licensing regimes. Some reflected that while the decision gave fair dealing a moral vocabulary, it never secured constitutional shelter, leaving it a principle without a home. Yet across the two-day packed exchanges, the sense persisted that CCH belongs to a global conversation on how the regulation and cultivation of creativity operate along a spectrum encompassing both creators and audiences, and how the architecture of access must evolve with the societies it serves.

When the dialogue turned to AI, the room felt suspended between eras. The photocopier, once the symbol of reproduction, now has its successor in the algorithm. Could the process of machine learning, they asked, fall within the same generous spirit of fair dealing that CCH affirmed? Others warned that without equitable licensing, creators risk vanishing into the datasets that train the very systems built on their work. The debate revealed that the old questions of authorization, fairness, and value have not disappeared but have only changed form, thus awaiting new interpretation.

As the conference came to a close, there was more than ever a sense of continuation instead of closure that settled over the room. CCH still speaks, not as precedent frozen in citation, but as a living dialogue between law and its readers. Copyright, in like manner to the library that tested its limits, survives by circulation. As the discussions made clear, AI has rendered knowledge sharing exponential; the challenge now lies in determining how this phenomenon fits within copyright law's existing framework and its delicate balance of interests.

A heartfelt thank you to our distinguished speakers (Scott Jolliffe, Ronald (Ron) E. Dimock, Michael Geist, Andrew Martin, Victoria Owen, Myra Tawfik, Ysolde Gendreau, Pierre-Emmanuel Moyse, Rowan Meredith, Meera Nair, Jennifer Zerkee, Jean Dryden, Bita Amani, Graeme Slaght, Ariel Katz, Heather Martin, Graham Reynolds, Mistrale Goudreau, Lucie Guibault, Howard Knopf, Pascale Chapdelaine, Arul George Scaria, Tobias Schonwetter, Kow Abekah-Wonkyi, Martin Senftleben, Allan Rocha de Souza, Gregory Hagen, Peter Yu, Yuxiao Zhang, Faith Majekolagbe, Mita Williams, Carys Craig, Cameron Hutchison, Anthony Rosborough, Lisa Macklem, Sean Rehaag, Simon Wallace, Teshager Dagne) who shared their expertise on the legacy of this landmark decision in Canada, and on its resonance worldwide, including in India, South Africa, Ghana, and the European Union. As one LTEC Lab LinkedIn post recently summarized, “You inspired us with forward-looking ideas on copyright law’s capaciousness to adapt to major technological shifts and disruptions. Your contributions elevated the dialogue and reminded us why this decision, and gatherings such as this one matter.”

Owed in no small part to our conference organizers Pascale Chapdelaine, Carys Craig, Myra Tawfik, and Ariel Katz whose vision and unwavering dedication brought a distinct depth and character to the event. Accompanied by sincere appreciation to the exceptional team at the Osgoode Professional Development Centre for their support throughout, and to the wonderful LTEC Lab RA’s Jessica Kabuli, Nikhita Nandeesha, and Daina Elias for their meticulous planning and commitment in ensuring the event’s success.

Pictured (L-R): Pascale Chapdelaine, Carys Craig, Ariel Katz, and Myra Tawfik 

If you could not join us, or if you would like to revisit the discussions, the full panel recordings are now available on our website. Please visit our conference agenda [here] for links to speaker bios, paper abstracts, and video recordings of the panel presentations.

To read more about the conference, explore Osgoode Hall Law School PhD Candidate and IP Osgoode Research Fellow Shadi Nasseri’s stellar reflection [here].

We also highly recommend following our new Instagram page @lteclab.uwindsorlaw for exclusive behind-the-scenes moments and standout conference highlights, and staying connected through LinkedIn for our seminar series and other opportunities to engage with IP and technology and the law developments.