Broadcasting Audio Without Permission

 Q: If a programmer were to air an hour of audio from a video online without permission and/or attribution, what would be the risks to the station?  Could it affect our licence?

A: Copyright infringement is not a regulatory issue, so it would not affect your broadcasting licence.  The risks to the station would be that the copyright holder could sue the station for copyright infringement, and could be entitled to monetary damages.  The quantification of damages would depend on the type of material, who holds the copyright, and the impact of the infringement.  Aside from damages, the cost of defending against such an action would be extremely prohibitive for a non-profit radio station.

Attribution in this context would be insufficient if the station or programmer doesn't also get permission from the copyright holder.  Failing to get permission is a much bigger problem than failing to attribute after permission is granted.

(Answer is by Freya Zaltz, legal advisor to the National Campus and Community Radio Association)

Rebroadcasting of audio clips from other media.

In most cases, you need permission from the copyright holder to air their audio. However, there is a type of exception, under Fair Dealing: "The rules governing this are set out in the section of the Copyright Act pertaining to the Fair Dealing exception (s. 29). It has not changed as a result of the recent copyright reforms. "Under Fair Dealing, you are entitled to use very short portions of copyrighted written or audio material only for purposes of criticism, review, news reporting, education, or satire, as long as it is properly attributed at the time the material is used. Other uses that don't fall within the Fair Dealing exception require permission from the copyright holder before the material can be broadcast. "In print, very short usually means no more than a few sentences or paragraphs, so the maximum length of an audio clip under Fair Dealing is likely somewhere around 10-15 seconds, but no more than is necessary to accomplish the intended purpose." - Freya Zaltz, legal advisor to the National Campus and Community Radio Association