On July 15, 2022 the Supreme Court of Canada released another decision, SOCAN v. ESA, that once again confirmed the fundamental purpose of copyright: to balance public and private interests of users, creators, and owners of copyright in creative works. The question addressed in this case is whether the Copyright Act requires users pay two royalties to access works online, even though accessing the same work offline requires paying only one royalty.

This decision upholds the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) ruling that a proper interpretation of s. 2.4(1.1) of the Act shows that " Parliament did not intend to subject downloads and streams to two royalties. The July 15, 2022 decision states the following:

The Copyright Act does not exist solely for the benefit of authors.Its overarching purpose is to balance authors’ and users’ rights by securing just rewards for authors while facilitating public access to works. When this balance is achieved, society is enriched. Authors are encouraged to produce more works, and users gain access to works which they can use to inspire their own original artistic and intellectual creations.

This latest ruling from the Supreme Court continues to emphasize the need to balance the public interest in accessing copyrighted works with the private interests of creators and copyright owners in exercising their economic and moral rights in protected works.