Case information

Civil procedure — No genuine issue requiring a trial — Intellectual property — Copyright —Whether the lower courts misapprehended the evidence — Whether the lower courts erred in dismissing the applicant’s claim.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The applicant wrote the respondent (TTC) in 1994, offering to create a bus and subway route map guide. The TTC declined, stating that such a guide was already available to its passengers. In 1996, the appellant was concerned about the TTC route maps appearing in the Yellow Pages Directory. The TTC responded that those route maps had been internally generated, were not based on the applicant’s proposed guide, and had been available for years. After obtaining a Certificate of Registration for a guide from the United States Copyright Office, the applicant commenced an action, taking the position that by obtaining the Certificate he became the only legal source for publication of transit routes and schedules in Canada, the U.S., and worldwide. The applicant brought a motion for summary judgment seeking damages of $2,000,000 from the TTC. The TTC brought a cross-motion to dismiss the claim.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed the applicant’s motion for summary judgment, granted the respondent’s cross-motion to dismiss the claim, and dismissed the claim. The motions judge found no evidence of any original expression in the applicant’s maps and no evidentiary basis to support the applicant’s claim of copyright. There was also no evidence that the TCC had used or adapted the applicant’s maps. Even if he had copyright in the guide, the scope of copyright would not preclude the TTC from publishing route maps or transit information, and there would have been no copyright infringement. The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the appeal.