Assessment of Costs Related to Copyright Matter
1565385 Ontario Inc. v. Canadian Private Copying Collective, 2010 FCA 79 (Perrier, Assessment Officer)

March 18, 2010

Igor Ellyn and Orie Nedzviecki for the Appellants, 1565385 Ontario Inc. and Mickey Yeung (“Yeung”)
David Collier for the Respondent, Canadian Private Copying Collective (“CPCC”)

The Appellants were the subjects of an order relating to the enforcement of the auditing rights of the respondent under Part VIII of the Copyright Act. The appeal was dismissed with costs in favour of the Respondent on October 25, 2007.  The Respondent’s bill of costs was opposed by one of the Appellants, Yeung, who also requested an amount of $2000.00 payable to same by Respondent pursuant to Rule 408(3) of the Federal Courts Rules. The Assessment Officer, Mrs. Diane Perrier, pointed out that her role is limited to quantify the costs awarded by the Court and has no authority to allow costs as demanded by Yeung.

Yeung contested the Respondent’s costs to travel from Montreal to Toronto as counsel could have represented the Respondent from Toronto. The Assessment Officer rejected this argument based on Section 11 of the Federal Courts Act, which does not impose any restriction in the choice of counsel. The Respondent’s bill of costs was allowed for the full amount, namely $2681.17.

By: Cindy Belanger, Heenan Blaikie